On 10 November, the government said that they were ready with the rules that would provide viable fixed price agreements for Norwegian companies. They had been working on the scheme since last spring. Businesses do not receive electricity support equivalent to what households receive. Electricity bills have multiplied. Now several people are shouting warnings about the new fixed-price contracts they are being offered. The reason is that they have to buy a fixed amount of electricity every hour throughout the day and throughout the week. Glenn Andre Jensen, factory manager in Bergene Holm Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer / news – As a result of the new fixed price agreements for electricity agreements, we are uncertain what our future will be like. Power is important to us, says factory manager Glenn Andre Jensen. At Haslestad, the plan is actually to expand. That 58 employees will be added. All investment plans are now being reassessed, says CFO Paul Brede Fløholm. – What is it that makes the fixed price contracts work particularly poorly for you? Paul Brede Fløholm, financial manager Bergene Holm Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer / news – They work particularly poorly for us because they assume that they draw electricity continuously. We have daytime operations, weekends off and summer off. Then we have to buy expensive power and sell cheap on the spot if we commit to such agreements, says Fløholm. The spot price is the price at which electricity is bought and sold in the market at any given time. – They actually become almost twice as expensive in practice, says Bergene Holm’s finance director. – So it will be almost NOK 3 per kilowatt in practice for you? – At least in the area there and it is completely impossible for us to commit to something like that, he says. Continuing in Turkey In Drammen, the roof covering manufacturer Protan has closed parts of its production early due to high electricity prices. Rather, they allow production to continue in Turkey. over the offers they have received. Erik Øyno, CEO Protan Photo: Trond Lydersen / news – Now the prices of electricity are so high that it is not so exciting to produce in Norway anymore, says CEO Erik Øyno. – What makes them wrong is that you have to enter into both a fixed price and a fixed volume. Half of the volume I have to commit to buying, I have to sell out and sell again in a spot market when the price is low. Electricity is cheap in the summer, electricity is cheap at weekends and electricity is cheap at night. – What kind of price have you been offered now? – What we have been offered is, for example, a three-year agreement for NOK 1.70 and when I have to go out and sell half at a cheap price, my net price will be well over NOK 3, says Øyno. Can be abused Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Christian Vestre says fixed price contracts where the customer can choose the amount of electricity they consume are not applicable. Industry Minister Jan Christian Vestre (Ap) says the tax exemption that makes fixed-price contracts possible requires that companies buy a fixed amount of electricity. Photo: Anders Hustveit Gerhardsen – If it were the case that you had an unlimited fixed price, no matter what the consumption was, then it would be very difficult to plan in the power system, quite simply. He says it could also be easily abused. – It would then be very easy, for example, on a day with a high spot price to sell that power on when you have a low fixed price, says Vestre. He points out that there are special times. There is war in Europe. There is an energy crisis. We have to take this in. Today, electricity prices are extremely high, up to five and six kroner. – I think very few have actually understood what has been put on the table. I don’t think the Minister of Industry has understood what has been put on the table, says Protan CEO Erik Øyno. The prices will come At the same time that Vestre says that companies must prepare for crisis, he warns of slightly better prospects. The price offers must become more viable. – The market is now getting started. We see that there are companies that are out there offering five-year contracts down to 80 øre. That is why it is also important that the companies call around and inquire about the best prices they can get, says Vestre. Bergene Holm has problems finding the price offer Vestre refers to. – We have not seen the prices the Minister of Industry is talking about. And we have checked with several at the latest today, Wednesday, says Purchasing Manager in Bergene Holm Merete Haugestøyl Vinje. Statkraft: – done by the book Statkraft says they have only followed the signals from the government about how the new fixed price agreements must be designed. – Our role as a power producer in this context is to offer power at a fixed price. And this is a commercial product, says Statkraft spokesperson Lars Magnus Günther. – The design of the scheme is politically determined. The basis is the basic interest exemption. To get that, the fixed-price agreements must be done by the book, he continues.
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– must go out and sell half at a cheap price – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
