Views on Finland's electricity generation system and its development were also studied in the survey. Attitudes towards the deregulation of competition and the increase of market-based energy generation and distribution were the principal focus of attention. Questions concerning this subject matter have been added as the process of change toward the national and international deregulation of the markets has progressed and its consequences have become visible in the everyday lives of electricity consumers.

9.1. Government vs. market-oriented steering

On the general level of principles, market-orientation receives a polarised result. Less than two out of five (38%) of the respondents agree with the statement 'Electricity should be an ordinary commodity, and the markets should freely determine the production, pricing and sale of this commodity'. There are eight percentage points more of those who reject this statement (46%). Although the result does not substantially deviate from the two previous ones, is by a narrow margin the most sceptical of the entire follow-up period. During the time before the last three surveys, the opinions were still more accepting than rejecting. There was a stable phase in the attitudes in 2003-2005. Before this stable phase, the share of those in favour of market-oriented steering gradually declined over five surveys. Thus, the total change from 1998 (the first year in which households could change their electricity provider, which raised the expectations of people) turned out to be significantly high. Now, the peak year of support is well in the past [Figure 39.].

Another statement with reversed formulation also suggests increasing scepticism. The proportion of those who think that 'free competition is rather unsuitable for the energy sector, which should be clearly steered and controlled by society' has remained large. Two out of three (66%) agree with this statement, emphasising the role and control of government officials. Approximately one in five disagree (19%). Also, this distribution indicates the most critical attitudes towards the markets during the entire follow-up period. However, an increase due to the economic crisis cannot be seen in the figures [Figure 40.].

More results indicating a similar way of thinking - which almost borders on socialism in the current climate of market liberalism - can be observed. The statement 'The state should retain a sufficiently large share of ownership and voting rights in energy companies in order to guarantee the sufficiency and safety of energy' mainly evokes one type of reaction among the citizens: More than four out of five (85%) agree; only a small minority (5%) disagree. This result, like the time series consisting of the eight surveys preceding it, indicates a trend towards stricter opinions [Figure 41.]. Closer inspection of the opinions also reveals that they do not include any particular political or ideological charge. Although the supporters of left-wing parties emphasise the state's role more strongly than those of right-wing parties, this way of thinking is also widespread among the latter (for example, 82% of the supporters of the National Coalition Party agree with this claim; not included in the figure).

In the competition theme, there was also a new thesis that was limited to the production of nuclear power: 'It would be good if there were more companies involved in our country's nuclear power production than currently in order to increase competition in the electrical power industry'. The statement is accepted by almost one half (47%) and rejected by more than one out of four (27%). Even though the distribution is clearly oblique towards increasing competition, the public opinion does not seem to be entirely enthusiastic. A contributory cause of this can be the logic statement included in the question. If there were more companies involved in nuclear power production than currently, it would mean that there were more nuclear power plants than at the moment (no figure).

As a whole, the results concerning the subject provide an unchanged message. Although people are willing to trust the beneficial power of the so-called invisible hand of the markets as such, electricity generation is regarded as an infrastructure in which the market powers should not be given a leading position. They do not wish to amputate the hand or even place it in handcuffs. It is mainly a question of watching over the hand and making sure that it acts in the best interests of the society.