It’s not easy to do the right thing with the new rules and conditions for electricity, notes Jon Granered. The aim is to “reduce the overload of the power grid” and encourage households to shift electricity consumption – especially charging electric cars – to the night.
Anyone who purchases a lot of electricity when demand is high has to pay a penalty. This is a law from 2027, but some electricity network operators have already introduced such electricity tariffs.
It’s just so common Firstly, residential households do not consume very much electricity and secondly, they cannot shift their consumption significantly. In the ten houses of the Fyrskeppet condominium community in Kärrtorp, the kettles start at around the same time in the morning and the ovens in the evening.
Previously, each apartment had its own e-subscription.
According to Chairman Jon Granered, the lighthouse did this selected to take the lead in the energy transition. They are planning solar cells on the roofs and in order to be able to use this electricity themselves, they need to be able to measure the consumption of each apartment. So they invested in technology for IMD, custom metering and billing.
It is standard in new apartments, he says, just as people are increasingly moving towards measuring water consumption individually.
But that meant that it was the club that received the subscription from the electricity network operator Ellevio.
– The idea was that it would be cheaper for members, on the one hand because we use our own electricity, but on the other hand because they would avoid the costs of their individual subscriptions.
There was one power plant per house.
– But as soon as we as an association cut the individual cables and join forces to make solar cells possible, the rules of the game change. We are classified as an industry. Ellevio no longer sees us as 240 households, but as a single large customer.
The matter also includes the electricity grid company Ellevio So far, no impact fees have been introduced for residential customers – and the question is whether they will exist at all.
The electricity company Göteborg Energi recently decided to exempt its 300,000 residential customers from statutory electricity charges. It is likely that many other electricity network operators will seek similar exemptions as the new rules are perceived as cumbersome and it has been shown that there is little point in imposing them on residential customers.
Effective subscription for large customers has been around for a long time, but nothing has changed for Lighthouse members other than the addition of their shared consumption. Together, the apartments generate a power peak of 44 kW in the morning and evening – for which the association now has to pay a variable electricity contribution, along with a fixed price for the wholesale customer subscription.
– We get subsidies from the state with half of our costs for building chargers for electric cars, and they have a lot of formulations and laws to encourage the switch to green electricity – and so in this way they counteract everything. It is an absurd logic to say that you want to promote solar cells and energy sharing, but in practice punish the associations that actually build the infrastructure for it.
According to Jon Granered, the costs in the houses where the system was introduced were around 60 öre more per kilowatt hour in January.
– It’s hard to calculate, but when I compare it with my own electricity bills, the members who switched to IMD paid 3.57 including VAT, compared to my 2.98 when taking into account all electricity network charges. January was an extreme month in itself, and there is a special effects fee in the winter, so we’ll see how it turns out after a whole year, he says.
Above all, he defends himself against this they are “treated like a paper mill.”
“We are just normal families with small children and retirees trying to reduce our climate footprint,” he says.
Ellevio explains in an email to DN that this is a consequence of the housing association’s introduction of IMD.
“This joint subscription not only covers the electricity needs of the apartments, but suddenly all electricity consumption in the property is also covered, including household electricity, property electricity, possible heating and charging of electric cars. This often means that the connection has to be dimensioned for a greater overall effect than before,” writes press director Jesper Liveröd in a reply to DN.
According to Jon Granered, this is misleading as it involves the same property and household stream as before.
Ellevio believes that this should not be taken into account How the electricity is used or whether private individuals or companies are affected is determined solely by the size of the fuse.
But it seems to be a truth with modifications.
According to lawyer Gustav Janeling, the energy market supervisory authority (EI), the authority that decided on the introduction of electricity tariffs, encountered this problem in several places.
– It is based on how the electricity network operators divide their customers into categories. This is typically done based on the cost to power grid operators and the size of the backup, he says.
According to the law, it must be “non-discriminatory,” which the electricity network operators interpret to mean that no difference can be made in the use of the electricity.
But does it make sense for households in the homeowners association to be counted as an industry and have to pay impact contributions if they have granted exceptions to other housing customers?
– It’s hard to say whether it’s reasonable or not. However, it is possible that the network company will also apply for an exemption for housing associations. There are no restrictions in the regulations as to what you can apply for an exemption for, says Gustav Janeling.
The homeowners association itself cannot therefore do this is doing something, but just as Göteborg Energi has successfully done for its housing customers, Ellevio could apply to EI for an exemption from effect fees for affected homeowner associations.
How do you see the possibility of such an exemption?
– It is difficult to comment on this before an application has been received, says Gustav Janeling.
