Linda Helenius, who lives in a villa in Höör, Skåne, heats her home with direct electric heating, a method used by about one in ten single-family homes in Sweden. Höör is in electricity price area 4, where the spot price for electricity is the highest in the country. Between 2024 and 2025, electricity grid fees in the country increased by an average of over 10 percent, the largest increase in 30 years according to the Nils Holgersson report.
Spot prices in early February showed the highest level in two years, with an average of just over 2 kronor per kilowatt-hour in the country. Households around the country report heating bills of over 10,000 kronor. SVT calculated the electricity costs for a house with an annual consumption of 20,000 kWh in 2025 in four locations in Sweden, one in each electricity price area.
It would have been nice to be able to live a little in the winter too, but it's not possible with these electricity bills as they are now.
For the house in Höör, the costs were 47,283 kronor. If the same house, with the same consumption, had been in Stockholm, the total costs would have been 41,649 kronor. In Umeå, the cost with the same consumption would have been only 24,888 kronor, roughly half the cost for Höör.
In Kiruna, the cost is 40,463 kronor. The total prices reported include electricity grid fee, electricity trading, electricity tax, and VAT, based on a villa with a 20A main fuse and an annual consumption of 20,000 kWh, with price information obtained from the respective grid companies and the same data reported to the Energy Market Inspectorate. Linda Helenius has installed a wood stove to reduce electric heating and has investigated changing the heating method but assesses it would be too expensive.
"It would have been nice to be able to live a little in the winter too, but it's not possible with these electricity bills as they are now," said Helenius. It is unknown how many households in Sweden are currently using direct electric heating and are most affected by price increases, or what government support is available for switching heating methods. The comparison highlights the stark regional disparities in energy costs across Sweden.