While they are good for all the reasons stated in the article, "included in the rent" means electricity prices is a driving force for rent increases. Rent in Sweden is increasing very fast, much faster than salaries or economic growth. The government and their lobby organizations also want to move away from the current system where rents are negotiated with a renter organization, to "free" rents. Today landlords demand 9.4% increase, but are granted "only" 4.8%, and this protection will probably be gone soon.
this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2026
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Communal laundry rooms are better for spreading the capital costs among the residents - energy still costs more or less the same on a per-load basis, and it gets charged to the residents in one way or the other at the end of the day.
They're also successively being replaced by in-home laundry machines. Lots of places offer a communal laundry room, but the residents also have a machine in their homes for the sake of convenience. Some new builds have started omitting a communal laundry room in favour of in-home machines.
A bit of a pity, to be honest. Spreading capital costs is societally good. I say this while having had a laundry machine in-home for the past 10 years (came included with the purchase of the apartments), which I do use and enjoy the convenience of.
Energy bills
This can only be electricity, where does the plural come from? Here electricity is currently dirt cheap, we've had almost 3 days with electricity at €0,06 that's the total price including electricity, transport (use of the grid) and taxes. With prices a bit higher around dinner time, about half the normal price. So what exactly is it consumers need to be shielded from regarding electricity?
Source (Saturday, Sunday, Monday):
https://stromligning.dk/elpriser?netselskab=cerius_c&produkt=nrgi_time&omraade=DK2
Prices are in Danish crowns DKK. And normally they hover slightly below €0,14 while often going slightly above €0,20 during dinner time.
I also don't see how paying through the rent is shielding anybody, it just means that a price hike will be delayed and added to the rent later.
Shared laundry spaces change how often we wash. Interviews and time-use data suggest that people with easy access to their own machine tend to wash more frequently, with smaller loads. If the washing machine is in the next room and energy and water are relatively cheap
Oh but wasn't the basis for this article the exact opposite? That energy prices are high!!??
If energy prices are high, would you not tend to think less about optimizing your washing if it is "free" as in paid through the rent?
Washing half full machines, and washing during the expensive hours because it doesn't make any difference for you personally. The bill is spread among all tenants.
IDK what the purpose of this article is, I lived in a building that had this, and it seemed to me that a few tenants were inconsiderate and abused the system.
This is absolutely not some miracle solution to ensure lower energy bills. I expect it actually does quite the opposite.
Paying the hour rate on your electricity helps lower the bill for those that pay attention, and it helps to not put unnecessary stress on the system during peak hours. We always avoid washing during peak hours.
And I have seen no signs of increasing electricity prices because of the war in Iran, probably because our electricity isn't based on oil or gas, and AFAIK the same goes for Sweden.