The average price of electricity has collapsed on Tuesday to only about 0.7 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), according to the Nord Pool electricity exchange.

Prices bottomed out at a low of less than 0.2 cents per kWh on Tuesday. On Monday, the average price for electricity on the exchange was 16.2 cents per kWh.

The price of electricity usually drops at night, but such a steep drop during the day is exceptional, especially in light of recent electricity prices.

According to Mikko Heikkilä, head of strategic network planning at Fingrid, which maintains Finland's national electricity grid, the drop is largely due to the uptick in wind power production.

"Fingrid's wind power forecast shows production of almost 2,500 megawatts during the day on Tuesday, and that is the highest daily average production value for July so far. In other words, we have a windy summer day in store," Heikkilä told the business daily Kauppalehti on Tuesday morning.

Despite the windy conditions, the full capacity of wind power production, which is currently around 4,000 megawatts, will not be reached on Tuesday, said Heikkilä.

He predicts that the situation will improve further later this year as more wind turbines are completed, reaching a capacity of some 5,000 megawatts by year's end.

Potentially hazardous winds

Tuesday's electricity price was also affected by restrictions in electricity transmission between Estonia and Latvia. Such transfer restrictions are typically related to maintenance work.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) has issued a strong wind warning for many parts of western and central Finland on Tuesday. Its forecast calls for strong southerly winds with gusts of up to 15 metres per second. These may topple trees and cause brief electricity outages, according to the FMI.

It also warns of gale-force winds of 14 m/s on the Sea of Bothnia and the Bay of Bothnia, which may be dangerous for recreational craft and small boats.

Petrol pump prices down a bit

Meanwhile week-by-week prices of petrol and diesel have continued to fall, Statistics Finland said on Tuesday.

Last week, the price of 95E10 gasoline averaged 2.29 euros per litre, while the price of diesel was 2.24 euros. The previous week, the corresponding prices were 2.35 euros and 2.29 euros per litre.

European consumers have faced fuel price shocks since the Russian attack on Ukraine five months ago, while fuel taxes are also considerably higher than in the United States, for instance.

By comparison, the standard gasoline price corresponds to 8.85 US dollars per US gallon. As of 24 July, the average pump price for regular-grade gasoline in the US was $4.54.

Regular gasoline, the most widely used in the US, is about 13 percent cheaper than the 95-octane petrol that is standard elsewhere.

US tourists in Europe this summer, meanwhile, are enjoying a strong dollar against the euro, with the two currencies at near-parity for the first time in two decades.