Vattenfall is Swedish for Waterfall

STOCKHOLM (ANP) – Energy supplier Vattenfall has nearly doubled its profit in the first three quarters of this year. The Swedish company, one of the largest energy suppliers in the Netherlands, benefited from higher electricity prices. Wind energy also made a larger contribution to its profit. However, total revenue was lower.

Electricity prices rose, particularly in Scandinavia, where they more than doubled in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year. In the Netherlands and Germany, electricity prices increased by more than 20 percent. According to Vattenfall, this was driven by higher gas prices resulting from the war in the Middle East and concerns regarding gas reserves ahead of the winter. Wholesale electricity prices tend to track gas prices.

Vattenfall’s net profit rose by 90 percent to 24.8 billion Swedish kronor—approximately 2.2 billion Euros. Conversely, revenue fell to 148.3 billion kronor, a decrease of 19.5 billion kronor compared to the first nine months of last year.

You may wonder what is behind the constant increase in NZ’s power prices, which like KCDC Rates are well up on inflation.

The major NZ generators+retailers (‘gentailers’) are:

  • Genesis Energy, Meridian Energy, and Mercury Energy: The New Zealand Government holds a 51% majority stake in each of these three major “gentailer” companies under a mixed ownership model (MOM). [1, 2]
  • Contact Energy: The fourth major gentailer is 100% publicly traded and privately owned. [1, 2]
  • Independent Generators: Roughly 80 smaller or independent generation companies make up the rest of the market. But together, the Big Four gentailers produce about 90% of the country’s electricity.
  • The record of the gentailers’ power price increases over the last 5 years:
  • 2022: Increased by 0.29% to 2.4%
  • 2023: Increased by 3.2% to 4.9%
  • 2024: Increased by 3.1% to 5.9%
  • 2025: Increased by 6.5% to 12.2%
  • 2026 (Q1–Q2): Increased by approximately 12% to 12.5% year-on-year, with average household and small business power bills rising around 6.8% to 8% in early-year updates

Why the recent increase well above inflation?