In 2010, the net sales of the Savon Voima Group stood at EUR 239.2 million (EUR 220.8 million in 2009). The net sales grew by 8.3 per cent on the previous year. The increase in net sales was due to colder weather conditions than in the year before, and subsequently, higher heating requirements of buildings, as well as an increase in overall economic activity and a higher price level of energy. Despite the increase in net sales, Group operating profit fell by 27.0 per cent to EUR 15.9 million (EUR 21.8 million). The operating profit was weakened by the costs caused by the summer storms, unsuccessful risk management in electricity sales, and the mainly one-off costs caused by operational arrangements.

Savon Voima continued to implement its investment programme, and the Group’s investments stood at EUR 28.8 million. Savon Voima invested EUR 21.0 million in the construction of electricity networks and EUR 3.7 million in the district heating network and heat generation capacity.

The company’s Board of Directors proposes that the company should pay a dividend of EUR 9.20/share, totalling EUR 5.3 million, for 2010.

SAVON VOIMA OYJ is a fully owned subsidiary of Savon Energiaholding Oy, which is owned by 23 municipalities. At the end of 2010, there were approx. 111,000 metring points in Savon Voima Oy’s electricity networks, and the company’s district heating networks had approx. 2,700 customers.  The Group had 188 employees at the end of the year.

The energy year 2010 was exceptional in many ways.  The colder-than-normal period at the beginning of the year increased the volumes of all business operations, but resulted in sharp price fluctuations in the energy market. Due to the cold weather, our peak-load heating plants used more fuel oil for heat production than in a normal year. This kind of heat production is much more expensive than normal operations.  Last summer, two great storms caused several million euros worth of damage to Savon Voima’s electricity networks.  As a whole, the market prices of electricity quoted on the Nord Pool Spot power exchange were clearly higher last year than the year before. The average price of market electricity in the Finnish price area was 5.7 cnt/kWh, which was 53 per cent higher than the average price for 2009.  The differences in area prices were exceptionally big, and the average price for the Finnish price area was almost 7 per cent higher than the system price on the spot market. 

The amount of electric energy sold by Savon Voima increased by 2.9 per cent and that of heat energy by 10 per cent.  Electricity sales totalled 2.8 billion kilowatt-hours and electricity transmission 2.2 billion kilowatt-hours. District heat and steam sales amounted to 687 million kilowatt-hours. The amount of electricity generated at the Group’s power plants and obtained from the Group’s production shares was 772 million kilowatt-hours. This was 20 per cent more than the year before.

The number of new electrical connections increased by 12.4 per cent on the previous year.  During the first months of the year in particular, building activity picked up considerably in our network area. 

The year 2010 was the most difficult in the company’s history with respect to disruptions.  Last summer’s storms cost the company EUR 7.9 million, of which EUR 5.3 million was used for network repairs and EUR 2.6 million for standard compensations. 

KEY FINANCIAL FIGURES FOR THE SAVON VOIMA GROUP