Lennart Wahlberg from Vallentuna, Sweden, was shocked to discover a 226 SEK charge for just one hour of electricity usage. As electricity prices soar, he criticizes the monopoly of network providers like Ellevio, which recently introduced new pricing models. Ellevio defends the changes, citing a shift to effect-based pricing to manage peak demand, but acknowledges the complexity and consumer confusion.
Lennart's Shock Over Skyrocketing Electricity Prices: 'It's Insanity'
Lennart's Shock Over Skyrocketing Electricity Prices: 'It's Insanity'
226 SEK for one hour of electricity usage. Lennart Wahlberg was furious when he saw the cost and demands answers from the electricity network company.
– One dreads the winter. It's insanity, he says.
On Monday evening, Lennart Vahlberg, 73, was watching TV with his wife at their home in Vallentuna, outside Stockholm. When he checked his phone, he was shocked. In just one hour, he was charged over 81 SEK per kilowatt-hour in effect price for electricity.
The total amounted to 226.99 SEK for 60 minutes.
– It's completely insane. I've never experienced this before. Last month, we paid effect fees of just over 400 SEK for an entire month, says Lennart Wahlberg.
Criticism: 'Prices Have Skyrocketed'
Lennart says neither he nor his wife did anything unusual that evening. The couple has a pool with a circulation pump that uses some electricity, but it has been running since April.
He contacted the electricity network company Ellevio's customer service but was told everything was correct.
– The problem I experience as an ordinary person is that electricity companies can set whatever prices they want, says Lennart Wahlberg.
Now he pays over 1000 SEK just for the network fee, in addition to the effect fee. He also pays about 500-600 SEK for the electricity itself to Skellefteå Kraft.
– One dreads the winter if it's like this now. Ellevio owns the power lines here and has a monopoly, so we can't switch network providers. It's insanity, says Lennart Wahlberg.
Ellevio: 'Reasonable Pricing'
In Sweden, customers pay for electricity both to the network provider, which owns the grid, and to the electricity trader that supplies the household with power.
Effect prices are a new phenomenon in the electricity market and something all network providers must implement by 2027.
Ellevio has now abandoned the old model. Previously, the customer paid a fixed fee and an electricity transmission fee, the cost of transporting electricity home, based on the amount of electricity used. Now Ellevio has introduced effect fees, which are added on top of the fixed fee and electricity transmission fee.
– We have significantly reduced the fixed fee and energy fee, even though they remain, and added the effect fee, so we have compensated in that way, says Henrik Hagberg, pricing manager at Ellevio.
Not Paying Hour by Hour
Effect fees make it more expensive to use electricity when everyone else does and during certain times when the grid is extra loaded. The price is based on three effect peaks – three hours during the month when the most effect is used – but an effect peak is calculated every day.
– You don't pay hour by hour. We have made it so that customers can follow consumption in real-time in our app, but it's not that Lennart here pays 226 SEK for that hour and then for an hour every day. Instead, what he ultimately pays for is the average of the highest peaks he has had during a month, says Henrik Hagberg.
That Lennart Vahlberg pays over 1000 SEK in fixed fees may be due to the electricity tax since 2019 landing on the electricity network invoice – and not the electricity trading invoice, according to Henrik Hagberg.
'Duty to Inform'
Henrik Hagberg understands that the pricing model is complicated and that customers may perceive prices as higher.
– I think there is a feeling that it is expensive, and therefore it is important for us to communicate what you actually get for the money, and we always try to do that. You don't spend much time reading up on the electricity grid, just as you don't read up on water, he says.
According to Ellevio, average prices have not risen more than inflation.
– For those who do not plan their consumption, it has become more expensive with effect prices, but the average cost for our electricity customers has not increased more than inflation, says Henrik Hagberg.
But is it reasonable that it should be so complicated to understand?
– That's a good question. I have full respect for the fact that this is a transition, and I myself am trying to explain this to people.