VILNIUS, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Lithuania's average wholesale electricity price surged 41 percent last week to 79 euros per megawatt-hour following a failure of the Estlink 2 cable between Estonia and Finland, Lithuanian Electricity Transmission System Operator Litgrid reported on Monday.
Litgrid said wholesale electricity prices in Latvia and Estonia were on par with Lithuania's during the same period.
Andrius Maneikis of Litgrid's Market Development Division said that electricity consumption in the Baltic countries typically decreases during the festive season, but the cable failure drove prices higher.
"Electricity consumption drops every year during the holidays, usually resulting in low prices. However, the damage to the Estlink 2 cable on Christmas Day was the most significant event of the past week and month," Maneikis said in a press release.
Electricity system operations remained unaffected, but prices rose as cheap imports from Finland were replaced by domestic thermal power and imports from Poland, he added.
