Source - Ei R2026-04 Förhandsprövning Avgifter (2026)

Energimarknadsinspektionen Ei R2026:04 — Ökad förutsägbarhet och träffsäkerhet för anslutnings- och överföringsavgifter (Increased predictability and accuracy for connection and transfer charges). Authors: Maria Gustafsson, Gustav Janeling, Jens Lundgren (Ei). Published 2026.

Bibliographic details

Overview

Ei’s formal legislative proposal (hemställan) to the government to amend ellagen (1997:857) 4 kap. 46–47 §§ and add § 36a to Förordningen (2022:585) om elnätsverksamhet, introducing a statutory duty for Ei to pre-approve (förhandspröva) DSO tariff methods for connection and transfer charges before they enter into force. The proposal directly addresses an identified gap in Sweden’s implementation of Art. 59.1a and 59.7a of the Electricity Market Directive.

The compliance gap

Art. 59.1a and 59.7a of Directive 2019/944 have required NRAs to pre-approve tariff methods since the predecessor directive in 2003. Sweden addressed an earlier infringement judgment (C-274/08, Commission v. Sweden, 2009) by introducing intäktsramar (revenue cap pre-approval) but never extended pre-approval to the underlying tariff methodologies themselves.

Sweden currently applies ex-post control only: Ei can review tariffs through tillsyn (oversight) after they have already been applied. If a tariff has design deficiencies — wrong timing windows for an effektavgift, inappropriate levels — Ei can only correct them going forward, not retroactively.

ACER’s 2025 report (Getting the signals right: Electricity network tariff methodologies in Europe) confirms that Sweden and Finland are the only two EU member states where the NRA neither decides nor approves DSO tariff methods. All other EU members have some form of pre-approval.

Proposed legislative changes

Amended ellagen 4 kap. 46 § (current text: Ei must approve methods for conditions other than fees; fees explicitly excluded):

Nätmyndigheten ska, i tillräckligt god tid innan dessa träder i kraft, fastställa eller godkänna: 1. nätföretagens villkor, inklusive avgifter, för anslutning till elnätet och överföring av el, eller 2. nätföretagens metoder för att beräkna eller fastställa villkor för anslutning och överföring av el.

Amended ellagen 4 kap. 47 §: Replaces the existing approval criteria with a government/Ei bemyndigande to issue föreskrifter about how the pre-approval process works and how methods/conditions shall be published.

New Förordning § 36a: Explicitly grants Ei the authority to issue such föreskrifter.

The Germany judgment constraint

Per C-718/18 (Commission v. Germany, 2021), NRA independence means regulation of how Ei exercises its tariff-setting authority must live in Ei’s own föreskrifter — not in statute. The current ellagen 4 kap. 46 § contains a material requirement (“objective and non-discriminatory”) that Ei argues is an impermissible statutory constraint on its discretion. The proposed new text removes this materiality and delegates the detail to Ei’s föreskrifter.

Two-step process

Step 1 (this report): amend ellagen/förordning to give Ei the duty and bemyndigande. Target: in force 1 January 2027.

Step 2 (after bemyndigande): Ei develops föreskrifter specifying how pre-approval works — which of several options (Ei sets methods, Ei approves DSO-proposed methods, etc.) — and what must be published. Ei estimates this step takes 2–4 FTE + consultants, potentially another 1–2 years after Step 1.

Actual pre-approval therefore will not begin on 1 January 2027 — that is the earliest date Step 1 can enter force; Step 2 takes additional time.

Effektavgift problem

About 30 DSOs have introduced effektavgifter as part of their nättariff. Ei has observed potential design deficiencies — particularly in timing (when the charge applies) and level-setting. Under current law, Ei can only address this ex-post. Pre-approval would allow Ei to catch such deficiencies before customers are affected.

A more harmonized, Ei-approved tariff methodology structure would also benefit aggregators and energy service companies: they could develop standardized demand-response products across Sweden’s ~170 DSOs rather than adapting to heterogeneous tariff designs.

Commission context

The EC’s July 2025 communication C(2025) 4010 final (Guidelines on future proof network charges) reinforces the same direction: tariff methodologies must be transparent, predictable, and set or approved by the NRA; member states must guarantee NRA independence from legislative interference in tariff setting.

Cost estimates (Ei)

Swedish market context (Annex)

• 171 nätföretag total (146 local, 23 regional, 2 transmission/interconnector)
• Three largest DSOs (E.ON, Ellevio, Vattenfall): ~900,000–1,000,000 customers each; together ~52% of all customers
• Median DSO: ~11,200 customer connections
• Total RP4 intäktsram (2024–2027): SEK 326 billion across all DSOs

Relevance to existing wiki content

• Ei — core regulatory implications; förhandsprövning now a statutory obligation pending government adoption
• Distribution System Operator — new pre-approval obligation for all DSOs’ tariff methods
• Natural Monopoly — strengthens regulatory oversight rationale for monopoly grid operators
• ACER — ACER 2025 “Getting the signals right” report cited; Sweden identified as outlier
• Demand Response — harmonized effektavgifter improve consistency of flexibility price signals
• Elmarknadshubb — pre-approval process will require IT infrastructure at Ei

Data gaps

• How Ei will design the actual föreskrifter for the pre-approval process — which approval model (Ei sets methods vs DSO-proposed methods that Ei approves); timeline for Step 2
• Whether the pre-approval scope will extend to specific effektavgift parameters (timing windows, level-setting methodology) or only high-level method approval