Trade
818,000
Electricity customers
21,000
Natural gas customers
6,200
New solar panel contracts
195
Charging points for electric cars
Latvenergo Group is one of the largest electricity traders in the Baltic states; it trades electricity and natural gas as well as an extensive range of related products and services under the Elektrum brand.
At the end of 2022, Latvenergo Group had about 818 thousand customers in the Baltic states, of which more than 175 thousand were outside Latvia. The number of clients increased by 8% in 2022. It increased in both the business customer and household segments. The growth was significantly driven by the opening of the household market in Lithuania, where, during the year, the number of household customers increased by approximately 81,000 to nearly 120,000. Of the total number of electricity customers, 96% are household customers and 4% are business customers.
Total electricity consumption in the Baltic states in 2022 was 27.7 TWh, which is around 5% less than a year earlier. The decrease in consumption, mainly in the household segment, was driven by warmer weather in the first half of the year, as well as rising electricity prices and subsequent customer actions to reduce electricity consumption, including the installation of solar panels. In 2022, the market share of Latvenergo Group in the Baltic electricity market was 20%. 5.5 TWh of electricity were sold to retail customers in the Baltics in 2022, while 6.7 TWh were sold in 2021.
The decrease was mainly due to a review of the sales strategy in the large customer segment, narrowing the gap between the amount of electricity sold and generated by the Group in an environment of high and volatile electricity market prices.
In 2022, Latvenergo Group sold 0.9 TWh of natural gas to retail customers in the Baltics. Although demand for natural gas has decreased significantly due to the increase in natural gas prices, the volume of natural gas sold by the Group in 2022 remained at around the same level as in the previous year.
The number of natural gas customers in the Baltics has continued to grow, further strengthening the position of Elektrum in the strategically important small business and household segments. At the end of 2022, the number exceeded 21,000, an increase of 15% compared to the previous year. Of the total number of natural gas customers, 90% are household customers and 10% are business customers.
During 2022, the construction of solar parks for Elektrum customers continued and the total capacity of panels installed for customers increased significantly. In the Baltics, more than 6,200 new contracts were signed for the installation of solar panels and for the purchase of remote shares in solar parks, which is almost five times more than in 2021. The increase was particularly boosted by the state support programmes for renewable energy in Latvia and Lithuania.
At the end of the year, the total installed capacity of solar panels for retail customers of Latvenergo Group reached 38 MW, which makes the Group one of the leading providers of the service in the Baltics. 67% of the capacity is installed outside Latvia. The total capacity of the Elektrum solar parks for customers was 11 MW, while 12 solar parks with a total capacity of around 200 MW are in the design or construction stage.
The development of the charging network for electric cars continued in 2022 as well. By the end of 2022, with almost 200 publicly available charging ports, Elektrum was one of the largest charging networks in Latvia. Some ports are installed together with cooperation partners. Compared to 2021, the volume of charging has increased about threefold to almost 500 MWh.
In November, an agreement was signed with the e-mobi network, enabling Elektrum Drive customers to charge at more than 300 ports in Latvia. The charging network for electric cars in the Baltics is set to expand to more than 500 charging ports in 2023.
