Glossary

A way to split an investment into equal costs every year over its whole life, with interest included.

The floor area of the house that is heated above 10 °C. You find it in the energy declaration.

The outer shell of the house: walls, roof, floor, windows and doors.

A certified person who may make energy declarations. Sweden has about 900.

How much heat a heat pump gives for each kWh of electricity. At 3 you get three kWh of heat for one kWh of electricity. Over a whole year it is called the seasonal coefficient (SCOP).

What it costs to save one kWh with a measure. If that is cheaper than buying the energy, the measure pays off.

A measure of how cold a place is over a year. The more degree days, the more a house needs heating.

The energy bought in for the house over a year for heating, hot water and running the building, such as electricity or district heating. Household electricity is not included.

The interest rate you use to compare what you pay today with what you save over many years.

How many years a measure is expected to save energy, for example 40 years for insulation.

A municipal advisor who gives homeowners free, impartial advice on energy.

The house's grade for energy use, from A0 (best) to G. It is shown in the energy declaration.

A document showing how much energy a house uses and which energy class it has. It is required when the house is sold, among other times.

A number for how much energy the house needs per square metre, with the energy weighted by how it is produced. It decides the energy class. Before 1 October 2026 it was called the primary energy number.

A plan to renovate a house in steps: what each step costs and saves, and which energy class the house is expected to reach. The rules on what it must contain apply from 1 October 2026.

A tax the state charges on every kWh of electricity you buy. VAT is added on top.

A contract where you pay the same price for every kWh for the whole term, for example a year.

A tax deduction when you install solar panels or a battery. It comes straight off the invoice, so you pay less from the start.

It is 15 per cent for solar panels and 50 per cent for a battery that stores your own solar power. It is worked out on 97 per cent of the invoice. The ceiling is 50,000 kr per person per year.

What you pay the grid company to get electricity to the house. It comes on top of the price of the electricity itself.

A contract where you pay the exchange price hour by hour, or quarter by quarter. Electricity you use while the price is low costs less.

The electricity the house buys, hour by hour, as the grid company measures it. You can download them from the grid company's website. If the house has solar panels, solar power used directly in the house is not included.

A kilowatt-hour (kWh) measures an amount of energy, such as electricity or heat. A new freezer uses about 250 kWh of electricity a year.

The size of a solar array: how many kilowatts it gives in full sun.

Recalculating a year's energy use to a normal year, so that cold and mild years can be compared.

How many years it takes before what you save has paid for what you bought.

Sweden is split into four electricity price areas, from SE1 in the north to SE4 in the south. The price can differ between them.

Suggestions in the energy declaration for making the house use less energy, such as insulating the loft.

A tax deduction on the labour cost when you renovate or rebuild your house.

How the battery is run. Simple control stores only solar power you can't use right away. Smart control plans each day around the hourly price.

The power exchange's price of electricity, set the day before for every quarter-hour (every hour before October 2025). Hourly and variable contracts are built on it.

How much heat leaks out through one part of the house, like a wall or a window, measured in W/m²K. The lower, the better.

A contract whose price follows the exchange as an average over the whole month.