Questions and answers about Datahub

Datahub is a centralised information exchange system for the electricity retail market, storing data from 3.8 million electricity accounting points in Finland. The data stored in Datahub will be used by approximately 80 electricity suppliers and 80 distribution system operators serving their customers: electricity consumers. The shared system will improve and speed up the service received by electricity consumers, with the parties to the information exchange (electricity suppliers, distribution system operators) operating in the same system. The system contains information on electricity accounting points, electricity consumption, and electricity contracts.

Datahub is administered by Fingrid Datahub Oy, which is a subsidiary of Fingrid Oyj, the Finnish transmission system operator. Fingrid has by law been assigned responsibility for tasks stipulated by the public service obligation, such as the organisation of the information exchange and management required by electricity market processes.

The draft amendment to the Electricity Market Act, which took effect on 1 February 2019, obliges electricity retailers and distribution system operators to use Datahub services for data management in their business processes related to information exchange and electricity trading on the electricity retail market. The obligation applies to distribution system operators that have been granted an electricity system licence for power grid operations in a distribution network or closed distribution network (with a nominal voltage of less than 110 kV on the system licence).

Datahub processes information related to electricity accounting points. It contains data on the accounting point owner/operator, as well as, for example, the accounting point’s consumption information. For instance, when a person moving to a new apartment enters into an electricity contract with an electricity supplier and a distribution system operator, their information is updated in the Datahub system via the electricity supplier. This means that the information related to the electricity accounting point, the apartment in question, is located in the same system. The accounting point data recorded by the electricity supplier or distribution system operator in their systems is transferred to Datahub.

Personal data stored in Datahub includes:

• The person’s identification and contact information – personal identity code or date of birth
• The person’s name
• Address
• Phone number
• Email address
• Information on the contract
• Electricity accounting point ID
• Electricity accounting point address
• Additional information on the electricity accounting point (e.g. fuse rating, connection status)
• Grid agreement product
• Possible authorisations
• Information on invoicing
• Invoicing method/invoicing address on the contract
• Consumption information

Yes and no. Persons who, in their work, maintain information exchange on the electricity market and make use of related information, for example, for invoicing purposes, can see when you use electricity. However, it is not part of anyone’s job description to actively monitor the electricity use of individual consumers, and the system’s degree of automation is high.

No, the power will not go out even if the Datahub system is temporarily down.

A personal identity code is used to identify the person in Datahub. Identification is important in order to keep the customer information provided by different electricity companies up-to-date and so as not to confuse the contract and electricity consumption data of persons with the same name.

A personal identity code enables the use of strong authentication for logging into the customer portal provided by Datahub.

The information is provided to Datahub by various electricity companies. Consumer authorisations, such as ones to a third party, are made by the consumer directly in the Datahub customer portal.

A party that has a contract with the electricity consumer, or one that the electricity consumer has authorised to access their data, is entitled to obtain information from Datahub. Information can only be obtained for the period during which the contract was in force. That is, even if the electricity consumer’s information has changed since the termination of the contract, the party that had a contract with the electricity consumer will only be able to obtain from Datahub the information that was valid during the contract.

The parties are electricity suppliers, distribution system operators and, by authorisation, potential service providers that can offer value-added services to end users. The parties also have the option of authorising another party to act on their behalf.

In a situation where the electricity consumer has notified the electricity company of a non-disclosure order, the company also conveys this information to Datahub. Datahub protects the electricity consumer’s information by revoking any authorisations granted by them. The parties that already have a contract with the customer are still entitled to customer information. A customer with a non-disclosure order cannot grant authorisations to their information to other parties.

Even without a non-disclosure order, only companies with which the electricity consumer has a contract are able to view the information recorded in the Datahub system. At no point will the information be available to all companies using Datahub.

The information will be retained for six years after the contract for the accounting point and the metering based on it has ended.

Fingrid is a critical operator for security of supply, and we follow security procedures in line with this responsibility.

Encrypted communications are used to transmit data between the different parties. Access to the Datahub system and the information it contains is restricted to parties entitled to this information.  The databases are protected.

You can view your information stored in Datahub from Datahub’s customer portal. You can find the portal through the Suomi.fi services, and a link to the portal will be added to the site www.fingrid.fi/datahub. The customer portal uses an authentication service provided by Suomi.fi. The opening of the customer portal will be announced separately.

When you log into the portal, the authentication service will forward your personal identity code to Datahub. In the service, you can view the contract, authorisation and metering data linked to your personal identity code.

You can examine the information stored about you and save it for yourself in CSV format.

If there are no contracts linked to your personal identity code, the service will have no information to display. However, if you have an electricity contract and cannot view your information in Datahub, primarily contact your contractual partner (electricity supplier, distribution system operator) to check and complete your data.

If the information in the service is incorrect and should be rectified, primarily contact your contractual partner (electricity supplier, distribution system operator). If necessary, you can also contact Datahub at https://palvelut.datahub.fi/en/ota-yhteytta/ota-yhteytta.

The deletion of information is only possible if six years have elapsed since the termination of the electricity contract and related metering data.

Datahub’s processing of personal data is based on law, which means that the following rights under the General Data Protection Regulation do not apply:

• Restriction of the processing of personal data
• Right to object to the processing of personal data

Datahub also does not engage in automated decision-making and profiling, in accordance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

The costs of Datahub services are charged to the parties using the service, which include distribution system operators, electricity retailers and service providers. The fees are determined mainly by the number of accounting points. When Datahub starts operations on 21 February 2022, the total fee for an accounting point will be approximately EUR 4.3 per year.