Swedish electricity prices Monday, Digi Mart USA News (Sweden): Electricity prices in Sweden are set to rise sharply on Monday, with the spot price in southern Sweden, electricity area 4, averaging 4.3 kronor per kilowatt-hour.
Between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
on Monday evening, the price is expected to exceed 7 kronor per kilowatt-hour, excluding taxes and fees. Energy economist Claes Hemberg of Nibe said that prices had recently been between 2 and 3 kronor, and that calm winds combined with cold weather and high gas prices were behind the spike.
Hemberg said residents of southern Sweden should prepare, adding that this month will likely be the most expensive in several years. Average households in southern Sweden paid 1,300 kronor more in October than in the same month last year.
Hemberg noted that the high-cost protection, which caps the price at 1.5 kronor per kilowatt-hour at most, provides some relief. Electricity area 3, which includes Stockholm and central Sweden, will also see high prices Monday, averaging 2.7 kronor.
He said area 4 is linked to Germany and German gas prices, while prices in area 3 are expected to ease when the first reactor at Ringhals restarts on November 17.
Customers with fixed or variable contracts cannot respond to price swings once they occur, but those with quarter-hourly pricing can adjust consumption. Hemberg suggested charging electric cars in the middle of the night when prices are lowest, and connecting electric boilers to the grid so they switch off during expensive periods.
Asked whether consumers should get used to high prices, Hemberg said January and February will likely be even worse, because the high-cost protection will no longer apply then.
