– The government does not own this case anymore, sighs a government party source and looks down at the floor. – Now it is the party organisations, the county teams, the parliamentary groups that have to take the lead, the person added. The person is not the only one who is tired of railing against ministers after the electricity price crisis has become a wallet crisis for many voters and a support crisis for both government parties. Dissatisfaction has built up in both government parties and expectations of clear political moves that voters will notice in their everyday lives. At all levels, all politicians notice that the electricity price crisis overshadows all other matters of the political heart. The local politicians are slowly starting to sweat before the autumn’s local elections. Power trio: Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap), Energy Minister Terje Aasland (Ap) and Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) cannot avoid that the internal pressure against the government increases in the party organisations, writes political commentator Lars Nehru Sand. Photo: Stig Jaarvik Requirements to live with This week, the Labor Party’s own Energy Committee came up with its recommendation. Some may have hoped that the grassroots would signal the way in the gruel and give the government some unpleasant but timely kicks in the rear and demand a change of course from their own in the power apparatus. It hasn’t happened. The selection comes with three pleasant and solvable expectations. Let us first look at what the committee does not conclude. It is most interesting. Not least because we can only imagine why a Labor Party committee with the prime minister frequently on the phone cannot say anything about it. There is no requirement for a maximum price for electricity Separate price range for foreign cables Suspension or stronger regulation of the amount of power exports or in other ways challenge the idea of international connections and the EEA agreement. Investing in nuclear power Power support for the use of holiday homes More power support for industry and business So much should be the same as today. The committee does not challenge the government on those questions where the debate has been the freshest in the comment fields. The document is almost designed to streamline the electricity debate in a track that suits the government. It remains to be seen whether the grassroots will read this as an attempt to control or stop the debate in the party. Ap’s energy committee paints a picture that it is demanding for a party like Ap with its broad coalition of industrial interests, power municipality mayors, environmental voters, EU supporters and EEA opponents to gather around something other than a clear demand to put more government money into the electricity subsidy scheme for households. Balancing this whole with having to govern the country makes it difficult for Labor to make demands on itself, as the committee has been asked to do. APS’s energy committee therefore ends up asking the government: Change the electricity subsidy scheme further, something the government has already done and can live with doing again. Allocate 1 billion to ENØK measures, something the government has already done once and can live with doing again. Stop future foreign cables, which the government seems ready to deliver on. Consider cutting VAT temporarily, which the government is unlikely to do, but can achieve the same by changing the electricity subsidy. – Unlivable “Unsustainable”. “Unlivable”. “Rapid change”. The message was not to be misunderstood when the committee’s leader, Kari Nessa Nordtun, visited Politisk Kvarter on Tuesday. Stavanger mayor Kari Nessa Nordtun has chaired the Labor Party’s energy committee for the past year. The committee’s work will end up in a political decision at Ap’s national meeting in May. Before that time, all the county teams must submit their input. Photo: Martin Fønnebø / news The pressure on the government to change the electricity subsidy so that people notice it is increasing. Much is thus in place for the government to both adjust the electricity subsidy and drop the NorthConnect cable ahead of the national party meetings. Seen from the outside, it seems strange that this rebellion is still needed to get the government to adjust its course. Internally, it is called party democracy in a constructive way. Today’s power support is too complicated and complex. People don’t understand the average calculation. The rule that the state covers 90 per cent of the electricity bill above 70 øre has its exceptions. Adjusting the basis of calculation from an average amount per month to the actual hourly price is technically demanding, but perhaps educationally useful. What will work is either to increase the percentage rate from 90 to 100 (maximum price), or to provide electricity support at a lower price than the current 70 øre. It is probably this, or a VAT cut, the Working Committee envisions. It will cost money, the government will have to accept the 70 øre limit as the definition of an unsustainably high electricity price, and the duration of the scheme will be longer, since it will take more for the price to drop to 50 øre than to 70 øre. At the same time, an electricity price of 69 øre over time, given the current rules, will lead to high bills, but 0 support from the state. It is hardly a good situation for the government. The NorthConnect cable will link Norway and Scotland together. The application has been in the drawer for a long time. On the same day that Aps’ energy committee presented its report, the government announced that the application would be processed again. It has been on hold because we have not “known enough about price contagion as a result of international connections”. We know more about that now. There is thus a lot to do to reject the application. The Center Party is also working in a coordinated manner to demand further political action. In Sp, the criticism of the EEA is of course greater. The requirement to renegotiate already entered into collaborations, not just stop new ones, can be adopted policy. This spring, it will be exciting to see to what extent the grassroots in the governing parties are able to rally around concrete demands for political measures, not just problem descriptions. Political measures, not overrule It must be said in the name of justice that the government has taken measures in response to the high electricity prices. But nowhere near as powerful and effective as critics, also within the parties, have wished. The government has not been able to take full national control over the export quantity and price of the electricity we produce cheaply in this country. It is justified by legal obligations and political wishes to be a stable and reliable supplier of power. Especially because Norway will be dependent on importing power from other countries for shorter or longer periods. In order to remedy the situation of high prices and to avoid power shortages, the government has taken political measures, not full state control or override. The market is “manipulated” with strong government support for households and a politically arranged fixed price system for business. The legislation and tax rules have been adjusted, also to potentially prevent magazine emptying and stop exports in particularly critical situations. Vulnerable groups have received extra support. The electricity tax has been reduced. Money has been set aside for energy savings. Measures have been taken to tighten up the marketing of electricity agreements. The government’s big problem is simply that this is not enough. It does not help. People look at the electricity bill, not the government’s efforts. Therefore, an internal revolt is inevitable.
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The Inevitable Rebellion – Speech
