Balance responsibility

An electricity supplier must deliver as much electricity as its customers consume. This is called balance responsibility. To become a Balance responsibility party an agreement with Svenska kraftnät is required.

What does balance responsibility mean?

An electricity supplier is under the Electricity Act obliged to supply as much electricity as the electricity supplier's customers (electricity users) consume. In order to fulfill the obligation there must be someone who undertakes the balance responsibility for the electricity supply.

The electricity supplier can either accept that responsibility itself and thus become a Balance responsibility party, or contract a company that already is such an actor. In both cases, there must be an agreement on balance responsibility between the Balance responsibility party and Svenska kraftnät.

Becoming balance responsible Balance responsibility agreement

What happens if balance is not achieved?

Every minute of the day, there must be a balance of electricity in the national grid. But the Balance responsibility parties rarely succeed to plan a perfect balance, and then Svenska kraftnät must intervene. We do this by buying or selling electricity during the hours when there is imbalance in the grid. The actor who has caused an imbalance has to pay Svenska kraftnät the cost of restoring the balance. We calculate the cost in a so-called balance settlement.