The monthly figures only grow for every warm winter day that goes for the municipality-owned Karlstad Energy that supplies district heating from Heden to households throughout Karlstad.

- If we compare with a normal winter, the last we had was the winter of 2015-2016, then we see that in January, revenues on the district heating side decreased by about SEK 30 million, and it is clear that it also affects the result in the end, says Erik Kornfeld, CEO of Karlstad Energy.

Smaller tile

Admittedly, Karlstad Energy saves some money by not having to fire so much wood to handle district heating supplies, but it does not offset long-term lost revenue for reduced sales compared to a normal winter.

December was now three degrees above budgeted temperature and January six and a half degrees higher. But the company also can't just pull down and adapt the business to warmer winters because it still has to work if it becomes a cold winter.

Small room for price increases

- Due to competition from other heating options, we do not see that there is much room for price increases in district heating. On the other hand, we look at how our power pricing can be designed so that we get a more stable income in hot winters, while our customers suffer less hard in cold winters, says Erik Kornfeld.

So Karlstad Energy is trying to streamline and find other ways to raise money and now the company is in the starting pits to start selling cold.

Remote cooling in progress

- We will launch it in 2020 but not in a district cooling network without local cooling solutions, but we are looking at the possibility of building a district cooling network for central Karlstad in the next three to four years, Erik Kornfeld reveals.

The cold will not replace the heat, but Karlstad Energi sees that there is a need for cooling during the summers and is a product that can supplement the district heating.