Point tariff system
The point tariff system is a type of "stamp system", where the producers pay a given price for the volume of power they input into the transport system. Correspondingly the consumers pay a certain price for the volume of power they consume from the grid. The physical distance between the seller and buyer who trade with each other in this area is of no significance to the transport price.

This means for example that a power company in Southern Norway can buy power from a producer in Northern Norway. Such a trade does of course not mean that the manufacture's power must be transported all the way from Northern to Southern Norway. The principle is simply that a producer somewhere must input a volume of power to the grid corresponding to the volume consumed by the power company's customers.

Balance accounting

Whether the volume of energy agreed on between the producer and power company is actually inputted or consumed is measured at the relevant points in the grid. Statnett's balance settlement compares the overall planned/agreed production from the individual producers and the overall consumption/withdrawal with the actual figures, and facilitates thus an open power market. The difference between the planned and actual consumption and production is calculated in regulating power bought and sold.

Transport price
The actual transport price is made up of several elements. Payment shall in principle be made in relation to the cost of one's use, and the payment is based on where (what point in the grid) one inputs or consumes power, and how much.

The more power that is inputted or consumed at one time, the more powerful the transport grid must be dimensioned. The lower the voltage level that the power is consumed at, the greater the number of step-down transformers that must be passed. The transport price varies somewhat geographically as well: It is less expensive to input power into the grid in areas where there is a high level of consumption, and it is less expensive to consume power in areas where there is a high level of production. This is because the physical transport of power is shorter, which means that less of the power grid's capacity is utilised. This is not related at all to whom one buys the power from or sells the power to, because power trading does not entail that the physical electrons move the same distance as the money.