Power payment

Power payment in practice: what does it cover?

Definition: Power payment is a grid payment that reflects the highest power (kW) that a customer draws from – or supplies to – the electricity grid during a year. Whereas traditional tariffs are primarily based on energy consumption (kWh), power charges are based on the capacity that the grid must be able to provide when your load is at its highest. This makes it particularly important to understand when your load peaks and what triggers the peaks in practice (e.g., simultaneous processes, equipment start-up, or periods of high production and import).

Purpose: The model is intended to make pricing more cost-effective, as the electricity grid is often dimensioned according to peak loads. Smoothing out peaks can reduce the need for grid expansions and make operations more efficient. For you, this means that the work of evening out the load becomes a more direct part of financial management, in the same way that you currently work to reduce kWh consumption.

Who will be covered by power payments from 2026?

Power-based pricing will come into effect on January 1, 2026, for large electricity grid customers connected to the 10 kV grid or higher (customer categories A-high, A-low, and B-high). This includes customers with:

• Greater electricity production combined with consumption: An electricity-producing plant above 50 kW together with consumption.
• Direct line: A dedicated connection between the production site and the consumption site, bypassing the public distribution network.

A practical rule of thumb is that if you are at a higher voltage level and have a consumption pattern with clear peak loads, power payment will typically have a noticeable impact on your net costs. For many private households without significant self-production, power payment does not apply directly because it is targeted at larger customers connected to higher voltage levels.

How to calculate power charges based on maximum power consumption

Calculation: Power consumption is calculated dynamically as the average of the ten highest hourly measurements within the last 12 months. This means that your billing basis is determined by the 10 hours during which you had the highest consumption peaks (or imports), and not by a single extreme hour. In practice, this does two things: it reduces the significance of a single event, and it makes repeated or recurring peaks more decisive for the payment.

Measurement data: The model assumes hourly measurement, which in practice is supported by smart meters. The data is used to identify the relevant peak hours and update the calculation basis on an ongoing basis. It is therefore a clear advantage for you to have an internal routine for monitoring hourly profiles so that you can see which operating situations typically end up among the 10 highest hours and whether they can be planned differently.

Power payment on your bill: monthly billing and ongoing updates

Monthly billing: Power charges are billed monthly based on meter data for the last 12 full months. When your operating pattern changes, this can therefore affect your bill from month to month. It is important to understand that the power payment is therefore a rolling billing basis: each month, an older month "drops" out of the calculation period and a new month is added.

Consequence: If you reduce your maximum power consumption, this may have a financial impact in the following month when the calculation period is updated. Conversely, a period of high peaks may remain in the calculation basis until the hours in question are no longer within the last 12 months. This makes power payment a model in which operation and energy management have a more direct impact on grid costs, and where continuity in measures is often more important than one-off optimizations.

Power-based payment combined with time-differentiated energy tariffs in the 75/25 model

For customers affected by the change, the grid payment will be charged as a combination of two elements. This means that you will need to consider both capacity (power) and when the energy is used (time periods):

• Power payment: 75% of the payment.
• Time-differentiated energy tariff: 25% of the payment (with periods such as low load, medium load, and peak load).

This means that a larger portion of the net payment will be shifted from variable kWh tariffs to a capacity-based payment, while the consumption tariff will be lower. In practice, this may give you a clearer focus on avoiding simultaneous loads, while it may still make sense to plan flexible consumption for periods with lower tariffs when it suits your operations.

Power payments and self-producers: what does the change mean?

From January 1, 2026, a new tariff will be introduced in parallel for low-voltage connected self-producers (categories C and B-low) in the form of a self-producer contribution, which will replace the previous availability payment. For those of you who are self-producers, it is therefore important to clarify which category you fall into and which limits are relevant for your plant and connection.

Self-producer contribution and power payment: limits of 30 kW and 50 kW

The contribution is linked to capacity and is differentiated according to the size of the plant. It is therefore important to know the size of your plant and how it places you in the model:

• Up to and including 30 kW: No self-producer contribution.
• 30–50 kW: Graduated contribution, where payment is made for capacity above 30 kW.
• Over 50 kW (low voltage): Contribution for capacity above 30 kW.

Important trade-off: Self-producers with installations between 30 and 50 kW may experience higher payments than under the previous system. This makes it relevant to work more actively with how the installation is operated in relation to consumption, so that you minimize unnecessary peaks in the exchange with the grid and achieve a more stable operating pattern.

Larger self-producers above 50 kW: when power payments become crucial

Larger self-producers with production facilities exceeding 50 kW combined with consumption – or with a direct line – are treated as A-high, A-low, and B-high and are subject to the enhanced power payment. For this group, the power payment is set at three times higher than the normal power payment for consumption customers in the same category. This increases the importance of keeping track of which hours provide the highest hourly values and how production and consumption interact in precisely those situations.

How to work with power-based billing in your operations

Power-based billing provides a financial incentive to reduce peak loads. This typically involves working more systematically with consumption and production patterns and identifying ways to avoid peaks. A good starting point is to find out which operating situations create the highest hourly measurements and whether they can be evened out without compromising the core business.

The following measures are often relevant to consider because they directly address the hours that may end up in your "top 10":

• Operational planning: Where possible, shift consumption to avoid the highest simultaneous loads. This could involve, for example, avoiding multiple high loads starting at the same time, or planning energy-intensive operations more evenly throughout the day.
• Energy management: Get an overview of hourly loads and identify the 10 hours that typically drive power consumption. Once you know which processes are behind the peaks, it becomes easier to prioritize efforts and test changes in operations.
• Flexible electricity consumption: Utilize time differentiation (low load/medium load/peak load) where it suits your operations. This may be relevant when there are options for when consumption can be placed without affecting deliveries or operational reliability.

At XOLTA, we work with battery solutions and intelligent management for Nordic conditions. In practice, storage and management can be relevant when the goal is to reduce peak loads on the grid and gain more control over power consumption – but the specific effect always depends on your consumption profile and connection conditions. Therefore, it makes sense to start by mapping out whether your peaks are few and high, or many and moderate, and whether they typically come from consumption, imports, or the interaction between own production and operation.

Risks and pitfalls of performance-based payment that you should be aware of

Data basis: The model depends on accurate hourly measurements via smart meters. If meters or data flow fail, the calculation may be incorrect. It is therefore important to ensure that data is available, consistent, and can be followed up so that deviations are detected early.

Irregular operational peaks: Companies with short-term but high peak loads may incur relatively high power charges because the grid must still be able to deliver the capacity. In practice, this may make it necessary to consider whether these peaks can be distributed, limited, or planned so that they do not recur in a way that ends up among the 10 highest hours.

Uncertainty about local constructions: For local associations of electricity customers, power consumption is calculated via a virtual metering point and a simultaneity correction of 85%. The method has been approved for a limited period until December 31, 2027, while more data is being collected. This may affect how you should interpret your power consumption and makes it particularly important to clarify the calculation method and responsibility for the metering point before you finalize your plan for operational adjustments.