What is a capacity charge?
A Swedish grid invoice has three parts. A standing charge you pay regardless of use, an energy charge per kilowatt-hour and increasingly an effektavgift, a capacity charge set by the highest power your property has drawn.
The distinction between energy and capacity is the one that confuses people. Energy is how much you use in total, in kilowatt-hours. Capacity is how much you use at once, in kilowatts. A property can cut its total consumption and still face a higher capacity charge, if the draw during the hours when everything runs together goes up.
Energimarknadsinspektionen describes the construction and why it was introduced.
That simultaneity is what costs. The laundry room, the charging points, the heat pump and the hot water all inside the same hour on a cold weekday morning usually sets the charge for the entire period.
How common is it?
We went through the price lists of 144 grid companies with tariffs for apartment buildings. 123 of them, more than five in six, levy a capacity charge on at least one of their own tariffs.
That does not mean every property pays it. Which tariff you land on is set by the size of your connection, and many companies still have a plain fuse-based tariff for the smallest ones. But if you are wondering whether capacity is worth paying attention to, assume it is.
What does a kilowatt cost?
We converted every priced capacity line in our tariff material to kronor per kilowatt and year including VAT, 222 lines across 106 companies. Taken per company, the median lands around 760 kronor.
That is the figure that makes the rest of this concrete. Every kilowatt you shave off the year's worst hour is worth roughly 760 kronor a year, every year, as long as you stay on the same tariff. Shave twenty kilowatts and you are talking about the order of fifteen thousand kronor annually.
The spread is the other thing worth noting. A tenth of the companies sit below 126 kronor per kilowatt and year, a tenth above 1 500. The difference between the cheapest and the dearest tenth is more than twelvefold, and it is not something you choose. It follows from where the building stands.
Which model is your property on?
Across 354 tariffs for apartment buildings, four combinations cover 348 of them, or 98 percent. The remaining six fall outside, and on two of those the price list records no pricing structure at all.
Standing charge + capacity charge + energy charge
188 tariffs, just over half. This is the most common model, and the one where capacity matters most. You pay a standing charge, a price per kilowatt-hour and a price per kilowatt based on your draw.
This is where flattening the load pays best, because the capacity charge is its own line that can be influenced without reducing total consumption.
Standing charge + energy charge
104 tariffs, just under 30 percent. No capacity element at all. The bill is set by the standing charge and by how many kilowatt-hours you use.
On a tariff like this, flattening peaks produces no direct saving on the grid invoice. It may still pay off for other reasons: the capacity element of district heating, the spot price, or avoiding an upgrade to a larger main fuse.
Standing charge + capacity charge
35 tariffs. No variable energy element, just a standing charge and a capacity charge. Clearly less common than the first two, but roughly one tariff in ten looks like this, and then capacity is essentially the only cost you can really influence.
Standing charge only
21 tariffs. A flat amount regardless of how much or when you use electricity. Most common on small connections.
Is the charge reset monthly or once a year?
Where capacity is charged, the next question is how often the figure resets.
On 107 of the tariffs where we could establish the period the charge is set monthly, and on 46 annually. On a further 72 the price list does not say, which tells you something about how unevenly the companies describe their own terms.
The difference is practical. On a monthly charge, one bad hour affects only that month's bill. On an annual one it follows you all year, which makes a single cold January morning more expensive than it looks.
Which hours count?
It is not a given that every hour is included in the measurement. On 106 of the 225 tariffs with a capacity charge the price list states a höglasttid, a peak-load window, and only draw inside that window counts.
The pattern is strikingly uniform. 101 of the 106 put the window in the winter months, in practice November to March. 82 count weekdays only. The most common clock window is 06 to 22.
That means a building on such a tariff can hit its highest draw of the year on a Sunday in July at no cost at all. What decides is the worst hour inside the window, not the worst hour overall.
On the remaining tariffs no window is stated, and you should assume every hour counts until the company says otherwise.
Does it only apply to large properties?
The assumption that capacity charges apply only to large connections is wrong.
56 of the tariffs with a capacity charge apply from 16 A. 42 start at 80 A and 27 at 200 A. The boundary at 63 or 64 A also recurs, on 31 tariffs between them, because that is where many companies switch from a säkringstariff, where the price follows the fuse size, to an effekttariff, where it follows the draw. But it is a convention, not a rule. On 51 of the tariffs the price list states no threshold.
How to find out what applies to you
- Take your grid invoice and look for a line in kronor per kilowatt. If it is there, you already pay for capacity.
- Check which period that line covers, monthly or yearly.
- Check whether the price list states a höglasttid, and if so which months and hours it covers.
- Look the company up in Effekttariffkollen, where we have collected current price lists for 275 grid and district heating companies with a source reference for every tariff.
If you need to understand how peaks arise and what can be done about them, that is covered in our guide to peak loads and capacity charges.
Is capacity worth chasing for you?
Which model you are on decides what an intervention is worth. On the most common model the cost can be reduced without reducing comfort, because the capacity charge is set by individual hours and those hours can be managed.
That is what PropSaver does: it coordinates charging, heating and other loads so the peaks are shaved, without cutting consumption across the board.
On a tariff with no capacity element the benefit is different, and we would rather say so than claim a saving that is not there. If you want to know what applies to your property, the savings calculation is a reasonable place to start.
Frequently asked questions
Do all Swedish grid companies have a capacity charge?
No. 123 of the 144 companies with tariffs for apartment buildings, more than five in six, levy one on at least one tariff. The requirement for all grid companies to introduce capacity charges by 2027 was repealed in June 2026, so it is up to each company.
Do capacity charges only apply to large properties?
No. 56 of the tariffs with a capacity charge apply from a 16 A main fuse. The boundary at 63 or 64 A recurs often, on 31 tariffs, but it is a convention among many companies and not a rule.
Does every hour count towards the capacity charge?
Not always. On 106 of the 225 tariffs with a capacity charge the price list states a höglasttid, a peak-load window, and only draw inside it counts. 101 of those put the window in the winter months and 82 count weekdays only. On the rest no window is stated, so you should assume every hour counts.
What is the difference between capacity and energy on the invoice?
Energy is how much you use in total, in kilowatt-hours. Capacity is how much you use at once, in kilowatts. You can cut total consumption and still see a higher capacity charge if the draw during the hours when everything runs together goes up.
Is it worth shaving peaks if our grid tariff has no capacity charge?
Not on the grid invoice. It can still pay off through the capacity element of district heating, by avoiding a more expensive main fuse, or by moving consumption to cheaper hours if you have a variable electricity price.