We are activating the high-cost protection. The policy decision remains in place, even though we have a caretaker government, says Ebba Busch at a press conference.
Total: 30 million
In total, electricity customers in electricity area 4 will receive 30 million kronor in electricity support for October, according to Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson (M), who is also attending the press conference.
That is what October will cost, she says.
The payment from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency will be made sometime in the “spring-winter” of 2027, according to Ebba Busch. The government wants to make a combined support payment for the entire period October-December 2026, so that the administrative cost of the support will not be unreasonable in relation to the amount paid out.
A family living in a villa with direct electric heating, with a bill of a couple of thousand kronor a month, will receive around one hundred kronor. These are therefore quite small amounts, as it stands right now, says Ebba Busch about the October support.
The support is intended to cover 90 percent of the part of the electricity price that exceeds SEK 1.50 per kilowatt-hour on average over a month. The monthly average price in electricity area 4 in October ended up 7 öre above that level.
The high-cost protection that has now been activated expires at the turn of the year. And there will be no new support system in the 2027 budget that the caretaker government is about to present.
But support for November and December currently looks set to be significantly higher than the 30 million kronor for October, according to Christian Holtz, an analyst at Polite Energy.
He believes electricity area 3 will also be covered by the support in the future, as prices there are clearly above the support level in futures trading.
From a historical perspective, it is largely only in 2022 that we have had higher price levels, he says.
The weather decides
However, the actual level of electricity prices will depend in large part on the weather.
Whether there is a lot of wind or not, whether it is cold or mild, and whether there is a lot of precipitation or not, he says.
Gas prices on the European continent - where a large part of electricity generation is fuelled by fossil gas - are another decisive factor.
The highest prices will be - as usual - in price area 4 (SE4). But SE3 will also have high prices. On the other hand, significantly lower prices are expected in SE1 and SE2 in northern Sweden, says Holtz.
There will be large differences between price areas again this year, he adds.
What do you think?