Costly power winter in Sweden: Government signals new electricity support

Households in Sweden need to prepare for an expensive winter for electricity. Energy and Business Minister Ebba Busch (KD) warned on Thursday of a “potentially turbulent winter”. In the south of the country, October electricity prices are already above the threshold at which the state’s high-cost protection kicks in. Asked whether electricity support might be needed again this winter, Busch replied, according to TT: “The short answer is yes.”

Prices in the south above the threshold

In the southernmost price area, SE4, which includes Skåne, the spot price on the power exchange has averaged SEK 1.54 per kilowatt hour so far in October, the news agency TT reports. The so-called high-cost protection (högkostnadsskydd) has been in place since November 2025 and runs throughout 2026. It can apply when the average electricity price in a price area exceeds SEK 1.50 per kilowatt hour over a whole month. Whether this happens for October therefore depends on how prices develop until the end of the month.

Busch presented her assessment of the energy situation together with Caroline Asserup, Director-General of the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten). Beforehand, both had briefed the relevant Riksdag committee. According to the news agency Direkt, Busch believes that even the current caretaker government can activate the support. The government intends to return to the issue “in the near future”. How large a payment would be and when it would come remain open. The details are set by the government in a regulation.

Why electricity could be more expensive this winter

Busch named several factors coming together: less rainfall than normal and an unusually early spring flood, low reservoir levels in Sweden and Norway, comparatively low availability of Swedish nuclear power plants due to maintenance, and low gas storage in the EU. On top of that, the conflict in the Middle East is pushing up the world market price of natural gas. The grid operator Svenska kraftnät also points to limited transmission capacity from the hydropower-rich north to the south.

At the same time, the government and authorities stressed that there is no threat of a power shortage. According to Asserup, the Energy Agency sees no risk of an electricity shortage this winter. An increased risk of high prices does not mean electricity will run short, she said. How prices develop depends largely on the weather. Svenska kraftnät also rates the risk of insufficient supply as low, but considers the risk of high prices for households to remain significant.

Lessons from last winter

Sweden already paid a temporary electricity and gas support last winter, calculated on consumption in January and February 2026. According to the government, households did not need to apply: grid companies reported consumption, and the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) paid out automatically. In price area SE4 the support was 29 öre per kilowatt hour, capped at 10,000 kilowatt hours per home. For a typical detached house in the south, that came to around SEK 1,850, according to government figures. Businesses were excluded. Whether any new support would follow the same rules has not yet been decided.

What this means for travellers and people in Sweden

Anyone living in Sweden, especially in the south, should budget for higher electricity bills in the coming months. With a variable-price contract (rörligt elpris), price spikes feed straight through to the bill. It is worth checking your consumption and heating now, particularly in homes with electric heating. A fixed-price contract protects against spikes but is not automatically cheaper, so compare offers.

Whether and how much state support will be paid is still to be decided by the government. If the procedure is the same as last year, no application would be needed. It then helps to have a payout account registered with the bank account register (Swedbanks kontoregister) so that money from Försäkringskassan arrives faster. If you are moving to Sweden, ask during your housing search whether electricity is included in the rent and how the home is heated. Find out more in our guide Living in Sweden: renting and buying a home.

For travellers, hotel stays usually see no direct change. In holiday cottages, however, electricity is often charged by consumption in winter, so check before booking whether electricity is included in the price. Rising energy prices are also driving general inflation, as our report on inflation in September shows.

Sources

• Finanstid (TT): Ebba Busch varnar för stökig vinter med höga elpriser (22 October 2026)
• EFN (Direkt): Hushåll kan få elstöd i vinter (22 October 2026)
• Sweden Herald (TT): Southern Sweden Electricity Prices Top Threshold for Government Subsidy as Winter Nears (22 October 2026)
• Regeringen.se: Frågor och svar om det tillfälliga el- och gasstödet