The grid fee: what you pay the grid company for
The grid fee is the other half of the electricity bill. You cannot negotiate it away, but you can understand it.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
The grid fee (nätavgift) is what you pay the grid company (elnätsföretag) to get power to your home. According to Energimarknadsbyrån, the consumer energy bureau, it has two parts: a fixed subscription fee that depends on the size of your main fuse (huvudsäkring), and a variable transfer fee (överföringsavgift) per kWh used. The grid bill also carries energy tax and three state authority charges, SEK 140 a year before VAT in 2026. In the Energy Markets Inspectorate’s 2026 compilation the median is SEK 2,698 a year with VAT for a 16 A flat using 2,000 kWh, and SEK 11,670 for an electrically heated 20 A house using 20,000 kWh. For the flat 78 % of the cost is fixed, for the house 57 %. You cannot switch grid company, because there is only one grid where you live. Work out your own annual cost from the figures on your bill.
What does your grid cost in a year?
Grid fee per year incl. VAT
SEK 4,688
| Per month | SEK 391 |
| Average per kWh, grid only | 93.8 öre/kWh |
| Of which fixed part | SEK 3,125 |
Energy tax comes on top on the grid bill.
The median for four standard customers
| Case | Fixed per year | Transfer per kWh | Total per year | Fixed share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flat 16 A, 2,000 kWh | SEK 2,107 | 27.3 öre/kWh | SEK 2,698 | 78 % |
| House 16 A, 5,000 kWh | SEK 4,519 | 26.3 öre/kWh | SEK 5,891 | 77 % |
| House 20 A, 20,000 kWh | SEK 6,615 | 25.9 öre/kWh | SEK 11,670 | 57 % |
| House 25 A, 20,000 kWh | SEK 8,519 | 25.9 öre/kWh | SEK 13,479 | 63 % |
The larger the consumption, the smaller the fixed share of the grid fee. Yet even the heated house pays a large fixed part, because a 20 A subscription costs much more than a 16 A one. It is the fuse, rather than the type of home, that separates a house from a flat in a grid price list.
A worked example for a 16 A house
Take the median values for a 16 A house using 5,000 kWh a year: a fixed part of SEK 3,615 and a transfer fee of 21.0 öre/kWh, both before VAT. The fixed part then costs SEK 4,519 a year with VAT, and the transfer SEK 1,316. Add energy tax on the same use, SEK 2,250 with VAT, and you have the full grid bill for a year. Divided by twelve, that is what you would see each month if use were even through the year.
In practice use varies with the season, and so do the variable part and the tax, while the fixed part stays the same every month. That is why a summer grid bill can feel high for how little power was used. Enter your own figures in the mini-calculator above, or choose your grid area in the comparison to get the regulator’s figures directly.
The fixed part: the fuse decides
The main fuse limits how much current your home can draw at once. A flat usually has 16 A, a house 16, 20 or 25 A. The subscription price depends on the fuse, and the step from 16 to 20 A is often large. Energimarknadsbyrån puts it simply: a 1 kW appliance used for an hour uses 1 kWh. A household that rarely runs many large appliances at once can sometimes manage on a smaller fuse and lower its fixed fee; an electrician can judge that.
The variable part: transfer per kWh
The transfer fee is charged for every kWh carried to you through the grid. Some grid companies have one price around the clock, others peak and off-peak prices, and a few charge a power charge for the month’s highest load instead of, or on top of, the transfer fee. The transfer fee is the only part of the grid fee you influence through your consumption.
Grid prices over time, per Statistics Sweden
| On 1 January | Flat | House with electric heating |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 80.0 öre/kWh | 39.5 öre/kWh |
| 2021 | 78.5 öre/kWh | 38.2 öre/kWh |
| 2022 | 81.3 öre/kWh | 39.5 öre/kWh |
| 2023 | 90.6 öre/kWh | 45.8 öre/kWh |
| 2024 | 96.6 öre/kWh | 47.4 öre/kWh |
| 2025 | 107.2 öre/kWh | 52.2 öre/kWh |
| 2026 | 113.6 öre/kWh | 55.9 öre/kWh |
Statistics Sweden’s series shows the grid price per kWh, fixed fees spread out, rising every year since 2021 for both home types. The flat’s price per kWh is more than double the house’s, because the subscription is spread over so few kilowatt-hours.
Why you cannot switch grid
There is only one grid where you live, owned by one grid company. On Svenska kraftnät’s map at Nätområden.se Sweden has around 280 local grid areas, with owners ranging from large groups to small cooperatives. You can change retailer as often as you like, but the grid fee follows the address. Moving from a cheap to an expensive grid can raise the bill even on the same contract; the grid-fee comparison shows how large the gaps are.
The grid fee on the bill
- Subscription or fixed fee, often per month.
- Transfer fee, kWh times öre per kWh, sometimes split by time.
- Authority charges, SEK 140 a year before VAT, often built into the subscription.
- Energy tax, 36.0 öre/kWh before VAT; see energy tax on electricity.
- VAT, 25% on everything.
Work out the whole bill, retail energy included, in the electricity bill calculator.
Two households, same use, different bills
Two 20 A houses using 20,000 kWh a year, one on one of the country’s cheapest grids and one on one of the dearest, can differ by more than ten thousand kronor a year on the grid alone, VAT included. That has nothing to do with the energy price or tax, which are the same for both in the same zone and in a municipality without the deduction. The difference lies in how the grid company has built and priced its network. So comparing retailers is not enough to know what power will cost at a new address: ask which grid company owns the grid there, and look up its fee.