In addition to ownership and regulation, viewpoints relating to the functionality and effects of the electricity markets were assessed. According to earlier surveys, the pan-Nordic scope of the market has been regarded as a positive factor in that it ensures the availability of electricity. Nevertheless, dependency on other countries has always been deemed negative. The statement 'Finland should be self-sufficient in its electricity generation, without dependency on the economic trends of the international electricity trade' is supported by four out of five respondents (80%). The share of people having this opinion is as high as last year. The wish for self-sufficiency has visibly strengthened year by year, and has been higher during the last three surveys than ever before. The completion of the fifth nuclear power plant currently under construction will help to realise this wish [Figure 42.].

Naturally, the key test for the new system is its impact on the price of electricity. The follow-up indicator that studies the respondents' experiences of the price impacts of market competition shows clear trends. This indicator, already proven unusually inconsistent, now shows a new twist: Only less than one in six (16%) now consider that competition has reduced the price of electricity used by their own household. More than half of the respondents disagree (59%). The result is the most pessimistic in the entire history of the survey. However, the difference when compared with the low figures of 2003 and 2006 is not great. Together, these three periods of time stand out as clear peaks of criticism in the time series. In the beginning of the follow-up period, the assessments still showed somewhat positive expectations. In the early years of the new millennium, the share of those believing in the positive effect of the competition decreased, totalling a rather sizeable change. Not only changing feelings but also changing facts can be observed behind these turns in the trend. There appears to be a connection not only with the price development of electricity and the public discussion of it but also with the actual electricity price development. The most major peaks in criticism coincide with peaks in the price statistics of the Energy Market Authority [Figure 43.].

The defensive statement made in connection with the increases in the price of electricity, 'Electricity is cheaper in Finland than in most of the other EU countries', evokes considerable uncertainty (52%). Somewhat less people consider this to be true (22%) than false (26%). Knowledge of this issue - we can talk about knowledge since the price of electricity is a fact based on international comparative statistics - has now slightly decreased from the previous year. Better knowledge of the issue would likely not slacken the public opinion, however. What evokes reactions to the estimates of an issue is the change observed, not the absolute or relative level of it [Figure 44.].

The results also give a total grade for the functioning of the electricity market. The public verdict now, as the growing criticism discussed above hints, is more on the condemning than the acquitting side. The statement 'Now that there have been several years of experience with the deregulation of the electricity market, one can say that the solution was successful', arouses more uncertainty (40%) than anything else. Twice as many people deny this claim (40%) than accept it (20%). The distribution is more critical than in the previous year, and practically at the same level as the bottom in 2006. Despite the changes in the distribution and the fact that people have more experience with deregulation, the share of people with no opinion has remained high. The future opinions of those who now just wish to wait and see will decide which way public opinion will swing [Figure 45.].