When you use electricity, you must pay for two products. You pay an electricity price for the electricity you purchase from the power supplier you have chosen, and additionally, you pay grid fees to the local grid company for the transportation of this electricity.
Grid fees are intended to provide the grid company with revenue to cover the costs of transporting electricity, given efficient operation, utilization, and development of the grid. It is the grid company itself that sets the grid fees, but the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) ensures that the revenue the grid company collects through grid fees is not higher than what the grid company is legally allowed to charge its customers in total. (Source: NVE)
Supply obligation
If you haven't entered into an agreement with an electricity supplier, you will be placed on a supply-obligated electricity contract with your grid company. The grid company is obligated to sell you electricity until you have chosen an electricity supplier, and this is referred to as a supply obligation or waiting tariff.
This arrangement is meant to be a temporary solution, so the price of supply-obligated electricity from the grid company is higher than what an electricity supplier could offer you:
For the first 6 weeks, the price for supply-obligated electricity is the spot price plus a surcharge of 6.25 øre/kWh (5 øre/kWh excluding VAT).
After 6 weeks, the grid company is required to increase the surcharge further to encourage customers to choose their own electricity supplier. Therefore, it will be beneficial for you to establish a new electricity contract with an electricity supplier as soon as possible.
If you want more information about which electricity suppliers you can choose, you can click here. (link to About the electricity market > Change electricity supplier)
Changing electricity supplier
It is free of charge to change electricity supplier. The grid company should facilitate customers' supplier changes.
We recommend visiting the Consumer Council's website strompris.no. Here, you will be able to compare offers from the various electricity suppliers that can deliver to your address.