Electricity tax

Electricity tax is divided into two classes: Class I applies to households and services (2.79372 c/kWh + VAT); Class II applies to industry and data centres (0.05 c/kWh + VAT). Class II's much lower rate reflects support for energy-intensive industry's competitiveness.

On a household bill, the tax appears on the transfer bill as "sähkövero" or "valmistevero". You pay it regardless of the retailer — competitive tendering does not affect the electricity tax.

When comparing, note that with the tax added the effective per-kWh price is about 3.5 c/kWh higher than the energy fee alone. E.g. if the spot price is 5 c/kWh and the margin 0.4 c/kWh, the actual per-kWh price on your bill is about 5 + 0.4 + 2.79 = 8.19 c/kWh before VAT, or roughly 10.3 c/kWh with VAT, plus transfer.

Electricity tax classes 2026

Class I (households, services): 2.79372 c/kWh + 25.5 % VAT = 3.51 c/kWh. Applies to all household electricity use.

Class II (industry, mining, data centres): 0.05 c/kWh + VAT = 0.063 c/kWh. The 55× difference supports international competitiveness.

A security-of-supply levy of 0.013 c/kWh (both classes) is also added. Source: Finnish Tax Administration excise taxation 2026.

How electricity tax appears on your bill

The tax appears on the transfer bill, not the energy bill. The line is typically called "sähkövero", "valmistevero" or "sähkön valmistevero".

Example at 5,000 kWh/yr: 5 000 × 2.79372 c/kWh / 100 = €139.69 + 25.5 % VAT = €175.30/yr. The grid company pays the tax to the state and bills it onwards.

The electricity tax is the same for everyone — you cannot competitively tender it by switching retailer.

Electricity tax history and changes

The tax was last raised on 1 Jan 2026 (by 0.09372 c/kWh). Historically it has risen about 10–15 % each year since the late 2010s.

In 2019 Finland received EU permission to lower the electricity tax for data centres — moving them from Class I to Class II. This cut large data centres' annual tax costs by tens of millions and attracted cloud investments (e.g. Google's Hamina data centre).

Finland's electricity tax is high in the EU context but not the highest — the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany charge even more for households.