Three Swedish power sellers advertised discounts — not the price jump after year one

Cheap Energy, Stockholms Elbolag and Svealands Elbolag — three companies in Sweden's Elify Energy Group — marketed electricity contracts with discounts and favourable prices. The marketing said the discount would expire after twelve months. What it did not clearly say was what came next: after the first year the electricity price would increase significantly. Customers who believed they had locked in a cheap deal were hit with shock invoices.

The Consumer Ombudsman took the companies to court, and on 27 April 2026 the Patent and Market Court ruled they had misled consumers about price in breach of the Marketing Act. The court prohibited marketing that misleads consumers regarding price, backed by a conditional fine of SEK 2 million per company.

For the group it was not a first: Stockholms Elbolag had been convicted by the same court in 2022 for calling consumers while pretending to be their existing electricity supplier. Deputy Consumer Ombudsman Kristofer Johannesson welcomed the clear ruling, saying correct and clear price information is what consumers rely on when choosing an electricity company.