One of Hafslund’s large cash machines can be found in Aurland in Sogn. Deep in the mountain, 120,000 liters of water comes down from a height of 800 metres. The floor vibrates and the machine noise is strong. Power plant manager Knut Helge Kjærvik stands by one of the enormous valves in the turbine basement. DIMENSIONS: Behind power plant manager Knut Helge Kjærvik flows 120,000 liters of water per second. Photo: Bård Siem / news – Inside the valve, the pressure is equivalent to a submarine at a depth of 800 metres, says Kjærvik. Hafslund’s power plant in Aurland currently produces 3.3 TWh of electricity a year. This corresponds to the consumption of 150,000 households. The income flows over the mountain from west to east. Hafslund will be owned by Oslo municipality. Oslo has extracted approximately NOK 3.5 billion from the power plant through dividends over the past ten years. 9 billion more to the municipalities Expensive electricity is bad news for consumers and businesses. Oslo and many other municipalities, on the other hand, can laugh all the way to the bank. The state earns the most. According to calculations that news has obtained from Energi Norge, the electricity shock gives an extra NOK 25 billion to the state coffers in the first half of the year. But the municipalities that own the power companies are also raking in the money. Energi Norge calculates that electricity prices in the first half of the year mean NOK 6 billion in extra profit for the owner municipalities. Large power owners can be found in Bergen and its surroundings, Stavanger and its surroundings and in Agder and Grenland, among others. The host municipalities of the power plants also earn good money. They are likely to get NOK 3 billion in extra income in the first half of the year. Examples of municipalities with large power plants are Aurland, Bykle, Eidfjord and Suldal. The calculations for the first half of the year cannot be multiplied by two to find the additional income for the whole of 2022. It will depend on how the electricity price develops and how much the power companies have to hold back on production. The additional income is not calculated by comparing last year, but with a normal situation where the electricity price is 40 øre per kWh, according to Energi Norge. Oslo by far the largest Norway’s largest power municipality by far is Oslo. The only power plant within the city limits is, of course, the Hammeren power station in Maridalen. It supplies electricity to just under 1,000 households. But through Hafslund, Oslo is a power giant. And Hafslund is Norway’s second largest power producer after Statkraft. Last year, Oslo municipality’s dividend from Hafslund was NOK 1.75 billion. In addition, NOK 192 million was gained from district heating. That means close to NOK 2 billion in pure energy income for Oslo for 2021. A little more than last year. The estimate for the dividend in 2022 will be in the city council’s proposal for the Oslo budget on 21 September. The half-year result of NOK 1.154 billion is slightly better than for the corresponding period last year. Then the result after tax was 1.072 billion. The result after tax is characterized by historically high power prices, 25 per cent lower production than normal and high income tax, writes Hafslund in a stock exchange announcement. – Very negative Finn Bjørn Ruyter is CEO of Hafslund Photo: hans fredrik asbjørnsen / hans fredrik asbjørnsen – The high electricity prices we have had this six months are very negative for Norwegian consumers and for confidence in the power system, writes CEO Finn Bjørn Ruyter. – The power crisis package from the authorities to households has been absolutely necessary to mitigate the negative effects. As a power producer, we contribute to the public through taxes and dividends, and to the power system by producing in a way that contributes to security of supply in Norway, says Ruyter. From west to east Back in Sogn, Aurland mayor Trygve Skjerdal (Sp) has nothing against the fact that water from Aurland can contribute to the municipal coffers in Oslo. At the same time, he believes that many people are not aware of how much power income goes from the West to the East of Norway. – The power municipalities in Western Norway have always contributed to society at large. I think many people are not aware of this, he says. Aurland municipality earned around NOK 60 million from Hafslund’s power plant last year. Most of it came from the sale of concession power.
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Kommune-Norge earns billions from high electricity prices – news Oslo og Viken – Local news, TV and radio
