Last spring, the electricity company Meløy Energi made a million-dollar mistake. By mistake, they sold cheap fixed-price contracts to customers in southern Norway – which led to big losses for the small company. Now the sum is clear: Between NOK 60–65 million. Chairman Rolf Inge Sleipnes of Meløy Energi confirms this to news. On Thursday, he was in place in Meløy to inform the elected officials about the status of the company. The company lost NOK 28.66 million from the power loss in 2022, while NOK 38.6 million has been set aside for expected losses in 2023. – The 38.6 million is probably a bit too high an estimate, continues Sleipnes. Mayor Sigurd Stormo (Ap) looks thoughtful in the speech of numbers for Meløy Energi that was presented to the municipal council on Thursday. Photo: Andreas Nilsen Trygstad / news Mayor Sigurd Stormo (Ap) in Meløy tells news that he is not surprised that the accounts show large losses. – It is a big number and a big loss for the company. When asked if he has confidence in the board of the electricity company, the mayor answers vaguely. – We are left with a big loss and then comes the question of trust. It is a discussion that we as owners must have. Meløy Energi is in danger of going bankrupt, after forgetting to remove an offer for customers in southern Norway. Thinks the board should go Municipal board representative Tommy Tangstad (Sp) has long been critical of the company ending up in this situation. – It is the values of Meløy municipality that the board and management manage. Then the undersigned expects that it will be managed in a good way. Tommy Tangstad (Sp) has been critical of the handling of the power failure case Photo: Andreas Nilsen Trygstad / news For many years, the electricity company has been a reliable source of income for the municipality. Every year, NOK 3–4 million has entered the municipal budget of close to NOK 800 million. But after the electricity failure, no dividend was paid out in 2021 and 2022. Whether there will be any dividend in 2023 is still too early to say. Now Tangstad believes that the board of Meløy Energi should take its hat and leave. – I believe that trust is low, so to speak. I think they have not played their part. Can’t continue with. – I expect the general meeting to take the necessary steps. – What actions do you think are necessary? – It is that the board must go. This is because the moves that have been made so far have not necessarily been right. We have lost NOK 60-70 million, without any consequences. Then the board may have to go. Rolf Inge Sleipnes is chairman of the board of Meløy Energi. Here he briefs the elected representatives in Meløy on Thursday. Photo: Andreas Nilsen Trygstad / news Chairman Sleipnes respects that the discussion about trust in him and the board will come. – I have great respect for the fact that we are a board that manages public capital. The owners then get to decide whether this is good enough, and whether I and the board are the right people to take the company forward. He believes that the board did a good job when the “fixed price scandal” first arose. The Meløy Energy case summarized Photo: Malin Nygård Solberg / news We rewind time to March 2022. At that time, electricity prices in southern Norway were sky high. This led to many looking desperately for a better electricity contract. Thanks to a Facebook post in the “Prismatch Strøm” group, 800 customers found a deal that was almost too good to be true. With the municipally owned electricity company Meløy Energi, they found a fixed price agreement of 126 øre/kWh. It was considered pure luxury for customers in southern Norway – at least when compared to the competitors. The only problem was that the agreement should never have been valid for customers in southern Norway. It was only intended for customers in northern Norway. The consequence for the company was that they had to buy electricity expensively in southern Norway, and sell it on to customers for “northern Norwegian” prices. And then the millions started rolling out of the company. The company then started a desperate fight to limit its losses. Among other things, all customers were offered to switch to the spot price in exchange for a lump sum. The reception to the offer was mixed. Many declined, while others took up the offer. In December last year, Meløy Energi sold 4,000 electricity customers to Polar Kraft. Espen saved NOK 40,000 on the agreement While Meløy Energi has incurred large financial losses, the around 800 customers who signed the fixed price agreement have saved a lot of money. One of them is Espen Lühr in Horten. Espen Lühr in Horten was one of around 800 customers who signed the fixed price agreement, and saved a lot of money. Photo: Private – NOK 65 million is a huge cost. It’s completely wild, he says when news tells news what the loss was for the electricity company he himself bought electricity from. – But they have also helped an incredible number of people, if that is any consolation. He estimates that the family has saved between NOK 40,000 and 50,000 in the past year on the favorable fixed price agreement. On 31 March, however, it was over. Now he is back in the spot price market. In the meantime, he has used the money the family saved to buy a new heat pump and re-insulate the house. – We have known that we have low electricity prices, so we have used that money to take measures in the house. We have thought ahead a bit towards winter. – Have you made money by staying in the agreement all year? – There is talk of maybe seven days in the whole period where I would make a profit from having a spot price. So I’ve actually been earning the whole way. Lost 10 million on selling electricity to own municipality The fixed price agreement was not the only bad agreement that Meløy Energi entered into last year, however. It is the case that owners of hydropower plants are obliged to deliver a share of the power produced to the municipalities in which the hydropower is produced. This is called concession power, and must be sold at a price prescribed by law. Meløy municipality has traditionally been a rich power municipality. With access to Norway’s second largest glacier, Svartisen, the municipality’s own electricity company, Meløy Energi, has been able to produce cheap hydropower for its customers. Photo: Malin Nygård Solberg / news Meløy Energi had entered into an agreement with Meløy municipality to pay 26 øre per kilowatt hour produced. But when electricity prices plunged in northern Norway in the spring and summer of 2022, the power company only received 19.7 øre from its customers. This led to a loss on the sale of licensing power of a further NOK 10 million. A consequence of this is that Meløy Energi has terminated the agreement on the sale of licensed power last year. “In such a market where prices vary so much, and the forecasts do not turn out to be possible to deal with – it is a mistake and too great a risk that the sale of the municipality’s licensing power should be handled by the owner’s own limited liability company”, it was stated in the presentation Sleipnes held for the municipal council. From deficit to surplus But it wasn’t just bad news that chairman Sleipnes brought with him. Because through a series of measures, the company has turned a deficit of NOK 63 million in 2022 into a provisional profit of NOK 31 million as of May this year. Among other things, the company is in the process of getting rid of all the electricity customers they sold electricity to. In December, they sold 4,000 customers to Polar Kraft. Now only the customers in the south remain, who are still on the fixed price agreements for the duration of the contract.
ttn-69
Meløy Energi lost NOK 60-65 million from the power failure in southern Norway – news Nordland
