Something must happen to electricity prices, everyone says. From Framstegspartiet to Raudt and those in between – everyone wants to do something, but no one agrees on what. Marianne Chesak from the Labor Party has a proposal: To give companies fixed price agreements on the power company’s bill, and to do it before the government gets its finger out with its electricity subsidy. – Although it costs a lot to buy electricity now, it costs no more to produce electricity. I believe that our power companies should offer power to business at a fixed price, says Chesak. As county mayor in Rogaland – one of the hardest hit by expensive electricity – she believes that power companies such as Lyse should lend a helping hand to businesses that are crying out for help. Billions in surplus Lyse is owned by 14 municipalities in Rogaland, and generated a record NOK 1.5 billion in the first half of the year. Several have advocated that the company should distribute the surplus to the owner municipalities, so that they can in turn use them as they wish. Chesak doesn’t want that. – There will be big differences from municipality to municipality in how they choose to dispose of this yield. In a way, it becomes a patchwork of measures, and it does not provide long-term vision, and that is what companies are crying out for now, she replies. – But isn’t the point of power ownership that you can use the income from our common watersheds for the good of the community, and that the municipalities can use the money as they want? – Yes, and they are welcome to do that, but I think that what the power company should now do, and what we should use the public ownership for, is to offer the business sector fixed price agreements, says Chesak. The government comes with electricity support The Storting has called an emergency meeting to introduce electricity measures – in mid-September. Before that time, the government will present a current support package, in which many hope that something will come to business at national level. – Why is what you say a more reasonable solution, with regional price arrangements, than, for example, national electricity support for businesses, which is up for discussion now? – By having a fixed price from the power company, the power company will still make money and the companies will get a power price they can live with. In addition, Chesak believes that her method can be less complicated and bureaucratic. – It goes straight from the power company, which is left with the large surplus. If you are going to have the power subsidy scheme from the government, then you will be taking the community’s funds – our tax money – into the power companies, who will then keep their giant surpluses. Thinks the solution creates problems Professor Nils-Henrik M. von der Fehr at the University of Oslo is not particularly enthusiastic about the solution Chesak outlines. – The problem is that it will lead to greater consumption of a resource that is scarce. Adjusting the price of electricity for business will mean that companies use more because operations become more profitable. They will not adjust production down, he says. Professor Nils-Henrik M. von der Fehr at UiO. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB Von der Fehr says the prices are high because the consumption of electricity has to be reduced. He believes that support for business in connection with the electricity crisis should lead to energy savings, not increased consumption. – It is terribly difficult to create such support, and actually I think it is better to give loans than to hand out money, he says. The professor believes that the surplus from the power company should be handled by the owners themselves. – The owner municipalities in, for example, Lyse are sovereign and can do as they wish. Five times more tax Atle Simonsen, communications manager for energy at Lyse, does not think Chesak’s proposal will work either. With today’s prices and tax rules, he says that they might have been forced to pay five times more to the state than they received from the customer. – It will cost us more in taxes and fees to offer such an agreement than what we receive as payment for the electricity. It cannot be done for us today, says Simonsen. Atle Simonsen in Lyse. Photo: Arild Eskeland / news – 60 percent of what Lyse spends on hydropower goes to the state and around 25 percent to the municipalities, says Simonsen. He said that out of a thousand Swedish kroner that they spend on hydropower, Lyse still has NOK 150 to invest for. If they were to cut down on the surplus and give businesses a low fixed price, the owner municipalities would have to agree.
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Marianne Chesak wants to have her own fixed price agreements on electricity for companies – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
