It is very expensive. District heating makes city areas a little cheaper and in the separated housing areas, wood fireplaces are common for heating. Many use electric floor heating also.

The building regulations are quite strict here and building is expensive as foundations must be suitable for the frozen ground and windows are triple (quadruple now I think) glazed. This has the added benefit of very good sound protection too. All piping of course has to be insulated and when above ground, runs indoors to stop bursting.

There are laws here about unpaid electricity bills as they can't shut it off like in other countries. Not that it is a problem on average here as most Finns are pretty good in general at paying their bills on time although the younger are fast becoming credit happy.