The announcement that performance fees would be stopped leaked in the morning and was subsequently confirmed by Ebba Busch at a press conference.
The supervisory authority for the energy market is instructed to change the regulations by June at the latest so that there must be legal requirements for electricity fees for all ela subscribers from 2027.
Network operators can continue to introduce them voluntarilybut Ebba Busch assumed that no one would be “unsettled”. She described the decision as good news for households.
At the same time as Ebba Busch confirmed the information at a press conference, the government released a statement about what changes it intends to make. The current model is described there as “difficult to understand, associated with high costs, not adapted to the need for increased electrification and very different between electricity network operators”.
Until now, the 170 electricity network operators have had to introduce the fees themselves, which has led to large differences between subscribers in different parts of the country.
The energy market regulator is tasked with developing a new model described as “proportional, based on the purpose of the charge and the size and needs of the customer”.
According to the Energy Market Inspectorate, they had already started doing thisIt’s not work to change the rules.
– It was too widespread for customers and also created a feeling of injustice, says department head Tommy Johansson of the Energy Market Inspectorate.
A revised proposal is expected to be available in April 2027.
The energy market regulator has not yet received this order and Tommy Johansson cannot therefore comment further. But the agency agrees the rollout needs to be slowed.
– Although we see good reasons for electricity tariffs to result in lower costs in the long term and contribute to more efficient use of the grid, the introduction has presented some challenges. We have seen that the implementation was and is quite diffuse and that there are big differences between the around 30 companies that have implemented it. This has led to confusion and a sense of injustice among customers that needs to be addressed, says Tommy Johansson.
Should it be considered homework?
– We saw firsthand that this implementation created challenges for customers. We are learning from what we have seen so far and see the need to create better and clearer rules. We have already started this work. But not only have customers suffered from higher costs, some have adjusted their electricity consumption and received lower fees, there has been no general price increase.
DN has reported on several cases where electricity charges were received blindly and resulted in costs that were perceived to be unreasonable. According to Tommy Johansson, this could be addressed through future regulations, where power grid operators could potentially take a more individual approach.
– We are not ruling out any changes at the moment, he says.
What does it mean for customers who are already heavily affected by the impact charges if you change them in April next year?
– We have not seen the order yet, it is difficult to say what consequences it will have for customers. Today’s decision does not automatically stop impact fees, and we have not rejected any impact fees to date. But we in the authority have also come to the conclusion that the regulations need to be reviewed.
