State energy giant Vattenfall reports an operating profit of SEK 12.8 billion for the first quarter. This can be compared with SEK 13.4 billion for the same period last year. The underlying result fell even more, minus SEK 2.5 billion.

At the same time, revenues rose sharply, plus 30 percent to SEK 59.6 billion, as a result of the higher price of electricity. But the costs of purchasing, above all, gas on the continental market also rose sharply. And the price of electricity is largely high in the wrong places, from Vattenfall’s point of view.

Poorly paid for hydropower

Vattenfall manager Anna Borg is bothered by the limitations of the Swedish electricity system. The bottlenecks in the electricity transmission from north to south mean that Vattenfall does not get paid very well for hydropower in the north.

– For us, this means that we get paid more for wind power down in Europe, but we get paid less for all the hydropower we produce in northern Sweden, says Anna Borg.

The price differences between northern and southern Sweden have been record high in the last six months.

– We have our nuclear power in southern Sweden, and it gets paid with the higher prices, while hydropower in the north gets paid with these lower prices, says Borg.

More even price

If flows had been freer, would prices have been higher in the north and lower in the south?

– There are many things that affect, but everything else being equal, it would of course have been an equalization of the price between north and south, she says.

During the period, Vattenfall stopped buying coal and nuclear fuel from Russia. But indirectly, Vattenfall still buys Russian gas for its continental energy operations. The company does not buy gas directly from Russia, but Vattenfall buys its gas on a European market where the mix means that Russian gas is included in the purchase, according to Anna Borg.