In the last week, electricity prices have skyrocketed again. People are freezing in wealthy Norway, a country with an energy surplus made up of pure hydroelectricity that is mostly publicly owned and paid for.
Voters mercilessly punish both the Labor Party and the Center Party in the polls, and politicians are beaten wherever they go.
But none of the governing parties has presented any solutions on how electricity prices in Norway can be decoupled from prices in an energy-struggling Europe.
Superior pricing system
Now Dagbladet can reveal that the government is secretly working to solve the electricity price crisis in Norway. The work has been going on for a long time and involves several ministries.
According to Dagbladet’s information, this is the government’s goal:
- Create a separate price range for exported energy. This can be arranged in different ways, but really it’s about creating a two price system where the aim is to export at the European market price and then get our prices within the price ranges in Norway.
According to Dagbladet sources, the government is working on multiple tracks to permanently lower electricity prices by reducing the impact of cables connecting Norway to a Europe in energy crisis.
There is a lot of uncertainty associated with the design of the measures and their legal and practical feasibility. The measures are at different levels of maturity.
HAS A PLAN: According to Dagbladet’s information, Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland has a clear plan to lower prices, but for now he doesn’t want to say anything. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB
sea View
Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland has received the information from the Dagbladet and says the following:
– Of course, we work continuously to find solutions to both the energy crisis and the electricity price crisis, we turn over all the stones. I will not comment on what tracks we are currently working on beyond what I have previously announced.
Your own politicians in the dark
The government is holding the cards so tight to its chest that not even the Storting’s PA and SP energy politicians should know the job. The government is also concerned about leaks that could create expectations among the population.
Dagbladet is aware that there is great internal frustration within the Labor Party in the Storting, where they have long experienced that when meeting voters they don’t have good answers on what the party is actually doing to remedy the problem.
– What is absolutely certain is that there are no quick and easy solutions here. The underlying problem is the lack of power. In the short run we can remedy people’s extremely burdensome and high electricity bills with electric backup. In the long run, we need more energy, more grids and more efficient use of our electricity, Aasland tells Dagbladet.
Aasland also promises that the governance mechanism will arrive in the new year:
– We have worked in a targeted way to ensure security of supply, which we managed to do this winter, by introducing a reporting obligation and asking hydroelectric producers to cut off the water. They did. In the new year, we will develop a new management mechanism that will help ensure security of supply for years to come.
It faces SW
Already during the election campaign in autumn 2021, the price of electricity began to rise. As Putin has cut gas supplies to Europe heading into winter, Norwegian prices have soared to historic levels.
The government introduced the electricity subsidy in December last year, but despite the electricity subsidy, Norwegian households and not least businesses have seen a sharp increase in their electricity bills in 2022.
The government’s response was that they set up an energy commission, which will release a deferred report on February 1, and then the Ap, Sp and SV will sit down and look at the prices in the market.
But the government is therefore working on solutions regardless of both the commission and the agreement with SV. SV is completely out of the picture as they are not in government, a source points out.
GLISER: SV’s Lars Haltbrekken is pleased that the government, according to Dagbladet sources, is working on a solution with a top-price system. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB
sea View
Cheers SV
SV has proposed a similar model which, according to Dagbladet’s information, the government is working on. Dagbladet is also aware that the model has been proposed to the government internally in the PA – with no perception that it has been heard.
– Nothing is better than if the government copies SV solutions without negotiation. That’s great, so I really hope it’s true, says Lars Haltbrekken (SV), who sits on the energy committee, in Dagbladet.
– Such a solution can give us a separate Norwegian price and help us get livable electricity prices again, continues the SV profile, which points out that SV has proposed it several times:
– Unfortunately, we didn’t get the majority. If the government introduces it now, that’s great!
Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland opens the door for more of Norway’s energy to be sold under long-term contracts, and therefore not sold on the stock exchange.
– In the long term it might also be right to make other structural changes in the electricity market, but this is a long-term effort where we depend on cooperation with neighboring countries and we need to be sure that these measures work over time and not against the their purpose, concludes the minister.
