Electricity prices skyrocket: "My husband says we should take short, cold showers"

He sent the message in the family chat on Monday morning.

"Take a shorter shower, don't leave the door open. Close the fridge immediately, don't use the dryer, turn off the lights in the kitchen when you're not there".

- With three young people in the home, it doesn't have a big effect, but I still have to pay attention to them, says Leonardo Zia.

The electricity price in southern Sweden is soaring. November was expected to be the most expensive month for several years - and in a new forecast from the energy company Eon, house owners in southern Sweden can count on 73 percent higher electricity prices this winter compared to last year.

In the residential suburb of Oxie, southeast of Malmö, Leonardo Zia has lowered the indoor temperature. The family doesn't always listen - but he makes sure to take a quick shower himself.

He runs the household appliances when the electricity is cheapest, usually around 11 o'clock in the morning.

A few years ago, the family installed solar cells on the roof. It halved the annual consumption.

- In that way, we can consider ourselves happy now. We went from 50,000 kilowatt-hours to a little more than 20,000. But there will still be substantial bills, says Leonardo Zia.

A block away, after-school teacher Alan Soranson has turned off the lights in the living room. The family's terraced house is heated with direct-acting electricity.

Last month the electricity bill was around SEK 3,500. Now it is already up to SEK 2,500 in the first week of November alone.

- Electricity is one of our biggest expenses. We turn off the elements and treat ourselves to nothing, he says.

Alan Soranson, like many other Scandinavians, follows the electricity price apps closely. His wife works as a cook, and right now the family is getting by. But if the winter forecasts are correct, it will be difficult.

- We live in the same country, but have completely different electricity prices. How can you do that? he wonders.

In Oxie, many share Alan Soranson's thoughts. A woman who is out with her dog says that she is in despair. She became a widow six months ago and now wants to retire, but the electricity bills put a stop to it.

- Last winter they were at SEK 10,000. It was difficult to get enough money when my husband was alive, but then there were still two of us, says the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous.

When the average price in electricity area 4 in October reached around SEK 1.57 per kilowatt hour, the government's new high-cost protection began to apply. The support covers 90 percent of the part of the electricity price that exceeds SEK 1.50.

Leonardo Zia has calculated the compensation and is not impressed.

- It won't be much and the support will only be paid out next year, he says and looks askance when his wife Petra Zia comes into the kitchen and switches on the "cozy lamps".

The dryer is the thing that causes the most arguments in the family.

- Some things I still feel like you want to tumble dry, Petra Zia defends herself.

She thinks of those who are having a hard time financially.

- There must be many who do not have an extra 10,000, to have that buffer month after month, she says.

Previously, the couple received a tax reduction of 60 öre per kilowatt hour for sold surplus electricity from the solar cells, the "60 öring". It was removed on January 1 of this year. Leonardo Zia criticizes it, as well as the Swedish electricity area model.

- We had Sweden's best electricity network and dismantled it without understanding the consequences. It is an unreasonable system when the northerners pay 30 öre for a kilowatt hour and we 10 kroner, he says.