Energy class D, E or F on a Swedish house: what it means

The listing shows a little house symbol with a red F. The seller's agent says it is normal for a house from 1975. Both statements can be true, and neither tells you what the letter means.

The energy class in a Swedish energideklaration compares the building's primary energy figure with what a new building of the same kind would be allowed to use. Class C matches the new build requirement, D to G exceed it, and Boverket's rules define exactly by how much. A house buyer also has rights the seller rarely mentions.

How is the energy class calculated?

Boverket, the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, explains that energy performance has been expressed as a class from A to G since 1 January 2014, and that since 1 January 2019 the class rests on the building's primärenergital, the primary energy figure, rather than on its specific energy use. The declaration states both the building's own figure and the requirement that would apply to a new building of the same kind, and the class is the ratio between the two.

Section 7 a of Boverket's regulations BFS 2007:4, quoted on Boverket's advertising page, sets the intervals. Class A means at most 50 percent of the new build requirement, B more than 50 and up to 75 percent, and C more than 75 and up to 100 percent. Above the requirement, D covers more than 100 and up to 135 percent, E more than 135 and up to 180, F more than 180 and up to 235, and G everything above 235 percent. A house in class F therefore uses between 1.8 and 2.35 times the primary energy a new house of the same kind would be allowed.

Upper limit of each energy class, share of the new build requirement

Energy class	Upper limit (%)
A		+50%
B		+75%
C		+100%
D		+135%
E		+180%
F		+235%

Boverket adds two caveats. Classes set before 1 January 2019 are not always directly comparable with later ones, even at identical consumption, and from 25 May 2026 a new class A0 sits above A for zero emission buildings.

What does the declaration contain, and who makes it?

Boverket lists what a declaration holds, with section 9 of the Act on energy declarations, Lag (2006:985), as the legal basis: the energy class, the energy performance as a primary energy figure, the requirement for a new building of the same kind, the specific energy use, the energy used for heating, cooling, hot water and the building's own electricity, the heating system, whether a radon measurement has been made and its result, whether a mandatory ventilation check (OVK) has been made, cost effective measures the expert proposes, and who made the declaration.

Only a certified energy expert may draw one up, Boverket states. The expert enters the data straight into Boverket's register, from which the declaration can be retrieved, and Boverket says it cannot give a price because the certified experts set their own fees. Boverket also notes that a declaration cannot be updated afterwards: a new radon or OVK result means a new declaration.

The document is about to grow. Boverket's page reproduces a new section 8 a of the energy declaration ordinance, added by förordning (2026:869) and in force from 1 October 2026, under which an energirenoveringsplan must set out the building's current performance, the minimum requirements that apply, a staged renovation roadmap, the estimated savings and costs of each stage, and the energy class the building is expected to reach after each one.

What does the law let a buyer demand?

Section 6 of Lag (2006:985) obliges the owner to make sure an energy declaration exists before a building, or a share in one, is sold. Section 6 b lets a declaration be used for ten years. Section 13 requires the energy performance from the declaration to be shown when the building is advertised for sale, which Boverket implements as the house symbol with the letter, and Boverket notes you may only advertise without it if no valid declaration exists at that time.

Section 14 is the one buyers forget. If the seller, despite the buyer's request, has failed to produce a declaration, the buyer may have one drawn up at the seller's expense within six months of taking possession. Boverket's guidance adds that the owner of a newly built one or two family house must produce a declaration within two years of the building being taken into use, that no new one is needed until a sale, and that a sale more than ten years after the last declaration requires a fresh one.

The class also has to survive the listing. The agent's objektsbeskrivning must state the running costs, and our guide to errors in the objektsbeskrivning covers what happens when those figures are wrong.

What does a D, E or F actually tell you?

The letter is a ratio, not a bill. The primary energy figure in kilowatt hours per square metre, the heating system and the energy used for hot water say more about next winter's invoice than the colour of the house symbol, and the radon and OVK lines are yes or no facts worth reading before a viewing. The expert's list of cost effective measures shows where the class could move, and the energirenoveringsplan arriving in October 2026 will turn that list into stages with costs.

Sweden does not attach letting bans to its classes the way France does with the DPE, where class G flats have been barred from new leases since 2025, as our French guide explains. Here the class is information, and the law's remedy is a declaration at the seller's expense rather than a ban.

Read the primary energy figure, the heating system and the radon line before the letter. AiMYNDi pulls those fields out of the declaration and sets them next to the running costs in the listing.