Capacity tariffs, the whole picture.

What is a capacity tariff?

A capacity tariff, often called a capacity charge, is part of the grid fee based on how much power the property draws at its highest, measured in kilowatts. Instead of only paying for how many kilowatt hours are used across the month, you also pay for the highest load, often the month's highest hour. The exact model varies between grid companies: some calculate on the single highest hour, others on an average of the highest hours, and some distinguish between day and night.

The principle is the same everywhere: a high draw over a short spell can cost as much as a steady draw over a long time. A brief coincidence of loads barely shows in energy consumption, but it can set the month's capacity charge.

Why are capacity charges being introduced?

Electricity grids are sized for the peaks in load, not for the average. When electric cars, heat pumps and electrified industry all connect at once, capacity in the grids becomes a scarce resource. Capacity tariffs are the grid companies' way of letting the price reflect that: whoever loads the grid heavily when it is under most strain pays more, and whoever evens out their draw pays less.

For properties it is both a risk and an opportunity. The risk is a new charge that grows with unmanaged peaks. The opportunity is that peaks can be influenced, unlike large parts of the rest of the grid cost.

What applies right now?

The regulatory position turned during 2026. Here is the sequence of events.

Energimarknadsinspektionen decided in 2022 that every electricity grid company was to have introduced capacity tariffs by 1 January 2027. During 2025 and 2026 many companies rolled out their models, and criticism grew, above all of how the charges hit households charging an electric car.

In March 2026 the government stopped the requirement and instructed Energimarknadsinspektionen to revoke the regulations and produce a new model. In June 2026 the regulations were revoked, and there is therefore no requirement on grid companies to introduce capacity tariffs. In the interim, each grid company chooses for itself whether to apply capacity charges. Energimarknadsinspektionen is to report its proposal for a new model by 12 April 2027.

Since the decision, several grid companies have gone back to pricing models without a capacity charge for smaller customers, typically detached houses and apartments with a main fuse of up to 63 amps. For larger customers, which normally includes multi-dwelling buildings with a shared grid subscription, capacity charges generally remain where they have already been introduced.

What does it mean for a multi-dwelling building?

Three things to be clear about.

The first: the requirement being revoked does not mean the capacity charges are going away. Many grid companies already apply them, and for property customers there are few signs of a reversal. What your own property pays is decided by your grid company's pricing model, not by the national regulatory position. Check how your grid company bills today, and whether capacity is part of it.

The second: a new, uniform model is on its way. The instruction to Energimarknadsinspektionen concerns how capacity charges should be designed, not abolishing them. The direction is settled: when energy is used will matter more and more for the cost.

The third: district heating is not affected by the decision. Most district heating tariffs have long had a capacity component, where one cold winter week can set a large part of the year's cost. For a multi-dwelling building with district heating, the capacity logic is therefore already in place today, whatever the electricity grid company does.

What does a peak cost?

In a multi-dwelling building the load coincides at predictable times. In the morning, hot water, ventilation and breakfast routines all start at once. In the evening come cooking, laundry and, ever more often, electric cars that start charging as people get home. If several cars charge at full power while the heating is working, the property can set a peak twice as high as its normal draw.

With a capacity tariff, that hour is exactly what gets priced. It makes unmanaged EV charging one of the most expensive habits in the building: the charging itself is cheap energy, but the timing can decide the whole month's capacity charge.

How to lower your peak demand

What works is not using less energy but moving it. A few measures in rising order of ambition:

1. Map the draw. Hourly values from the grid company or your own metering show when the peaks occur and what causes them. Without that picture, the measures are guesswork.

2. Control the charging. Load balancing distributes the power between the cars, and smart charging control moves charging to the night when other load is low. The cars end up just as full, the peak disappears.

3. Control heating and hot water. Heating systems and water heaters can be paused or damped for short periods without affecting comfort, precisely when the building would otherwise peak.

4. Let the assets work together. Solar panels, batteries, heat pumps, accumulator tanks and charging can together cut peaks that none of the parts manages alone: the battery takes the load off the evening peak, the heating moves to hours with low draw, the charging fills the nights.

Step four is what PropSaver does automatically. The system recalculates the property's optimal operation every fifteen minutes, weighs electricity against district heating and steers the assets together within the comfort limits you set. Typically 10–25 percent lower combined electricity and district heating costs is a reasonable estimate once the full optimisation is in place, and it is verified against your own property before we promise anything.

Is it worth acting when the requirement has been stopped?

Yes, for three reasons. The capacity charges already exist at many grid companies and in most district heating tariffs, so the saving is real today. The coming model from Energimarknadsinspektionen points towards more capacity pricing. And the measures, controlled charging, steadier heating operation and assets working together, lower the cost even without a capacity tariff, through lower energy cost and less pressure on the size of the subscription.

Evening out the property's draw is therefore an investment in how electricity and heating will be priced, whatever the exact model turns out to be.