Last week, electricity was 181 times more expensive in the south than in the north. – Deeply unfair, Kari Nessa Nordtun said about the enormous price difference between Northern and Southern Norway to both VG and Aftenposten on Friday. She is Labor Party mayor in Stavanger and will lead the work to develop the Labor Party’s energy policy. She wants to equalize electricity prices between the south and the north. – Ensuring better transmission capacity between the price areas is in no way about forcing through higher prices in the north, but about ensuring good supplies of energy throughout the country going forward in a time of increased demand for energy both in households and not least in industry, she says to news Saturday. Kari Nessa Nordtun is mayor of Stavanger, but has now been given responsibility for developing the Labor Party’s energy policy. Photo: Odd Rune Kyllingstad Nordkraft: – Losing money every day The reactions to the move from the north have not been long in coming. – Energy policy desperation and confusion, writes Nordlys. The power industry in the north, which these days has to send the water past the turbines without generating electricity, is also reacting. – To put it mildly, I am surprised by the action from Nordtun. Instead of focusing on how those who have it bad can get better, the focus is that all electricity customers in Norway should have it just as bad. That’s what CEO Eirik Frantzen of the power company Nordkraft says. He reacts in particular to the statement that the price differences are an injustice that must be rectified. – Injustice can be seen in many ways. At Nordkraft, we experience that we lose money every day, unlike power producers in the south. But we don’t think of it as unfair. – And when injustice is set up against everything being the same, I am unsure whether she believes that online rent should be the same throughout the country. When talking about distribution policy and equalization, Frantzen believes that we must look at the whole spectrum. – What about water and sewage charges, food prices and flight prices? Or should it only apply to the electricity price. – It will take many years to build out Nessa Nordtun points out that northern Norway has advantages that you don’t have in the south of the country. – I think no one in the Labor Party is against the benefits people and industry in the north already have from the abolition of VAT on electricity and other good exemptions for taxation and subsidies in other areas. She says that the major measures to ensure low prices in the south are through making arrangements for wind and solar energy, as well as increasing the capacity of hydropower. – What I promise is that people in the south find it unfair that they get an explosive increase in prices due to a deliberate national policy of connecting only parts of the country to the German and British markets. – I have dared to say that such cables for transmission will soon mean higher prices where today the prices are very low. Frantzen rejects that better transmission capacity between north and south will solve the unreasonable price level in the south. – It takes many years and costs many billions to get transmission cables in place. The benefit to society is that the north gets a higher price, while you get a slightly lower price in the south. What we as a nation have to concentrate on is how to build the new industry we will live on after oil. Then we must develop new, renewable power and ensure that the nation of Norway is actually able to further refine it on Norwegian soil, says Frantzen. – Short-term thinking Frantzen is not the only one who reacts to the signals from Ap’s new energy committee. Managing director of Bodøregionen’s Utviklingsselskap, Elnar Remi Holmen, believes that it is short-term thinking to lay cables from north to south. – It is completely nonsensical. It will have minimal significance for those in the south and maximum negative significance for creating new export opportunities. Elnar Remi Holmen believes that it is important to establish new power production in the north, even if the power producers are not currently earning enough for new investments to be planned. Photo: Kari Skeie / news On top of that, he says that there is actually not much to be gained even if you send the power from north to south. – The surplus power we have in Northern Norway will not help Eastern Norway and Southern Norway. We are talking about 4–5 TWh. It is less than we need in a crisis year this year. In any case, we will not get all the industrial establishments that we are about to get. Instead, we get to import the crisis prices from the south. In Northern Norway, there are many large industrial plans. According to Holmen, the plans have already used up the power we have today two or three times. – Then it is better to create jobs in northern Norway than to send the power south. Holmen receives support from Nordtun’s party colleague in the north, county council leader Tomas Nordvoll (Ap). – If the challenge of high power prices in the south is to be solved, then it is about building more power. Don’t see how to get hold of the energy we need in other parts of the country. – Doesn’t the power municipality in the south have an advantage that electricity is expensive? – Quite obviously. Almost all power production in Norway is owned either by the state or the municipalities. When the power price is high, they make an incredible amount of money. The power companies in the south are now making an awful lot of money which they can use to develop the municipality and support business. Nessa Nordtun tells news that she understands the reactions to the move. – Of course I understand the reactions. No one wants to pay more for electricity than they have to. – It is nevertheless my mandate as head of a committee for energy in the Labor Party to challenge new thinking. Then I also have to take up the challenges that people in my own area point to as difficult.
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Nordkraft reacts to electricity output from Aps’ energy committee – news Nordland
