The Consumer Ombudsman has reprimanded a Finnish energy firm for unilaterally moving customers from ongoing fixed price contracts to spot-price based deals last autumn.
The ombudsman's ruling relates to around 40,000 customers who moved to the company when Lumo Energy went bankrupt.
Hehku Energy, formerly known as GNP, had not asked customers' permission for the switch. If the company makes a similar move again, it will be fined 80,000 euros.
Contracts based on the spot price of electricity, which changes every hour, have become more popular in Finland since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent disengagement from Russian energy sources pushed up consumer prices last winter.
The company's CEO Daniel Haglund said on Thursday that the company had not done anything that broke the law in force at the time.
They had justified the move based on the exceptional market situation at the time, but that was rejected by the ombudsman.
The ombudsman gave Hekhu its ruling on 12 July, and it entered into force a month later as the company did not take it to the Market Court.
