Vattenfall's underlying operating profit rose somewhat during the first quarter, from SEK 9.4 billion last year to SEK 9.7 billion. The increase is the result of a good contribution from fossil-free energy generation, primarily from wind power, hydro power and nuclear power.
Profit for the quarter was SEK 6.4 billion, compared with SEK 4.2 billion for the equivalent period last year. However, the profit was dragged down by costs associated with Storm Alfrida. The storm, which hit Sweden on the night of 1-2 January, affected a total of 65,000 of Vattenfall Distribution's customers. The urgent repair work took three weeks, but the work of restoring the grid completely is still under way.
For Vattenfall, Alfrida meant increased costs of SEK 850 million during the quarter, roughly half of this amount being compensation for interruption of supply to affected customers, and half being repair costs. There may still be further costs associated with the storm.
Wind power also benefited from the positive price effects combined with added new capacity, and made a good contribution to this quarter's profit as well. The underlying operating profit from wind operations rose by SEK 0.4 billion to SEK 1.5 billion.