The companies received electricity support in exchange for not giving the owners a dividend. The authorities were to check the ban through random sampling. Up to 171 of the companies that received crisis support gave dividends or group contributions, news’s investigations have shown. In total, these companies were awarded NOK 200 million. A dividend is when a person who owns a business gets money taken out of the business. Group contribution is when a company that owns another company receives money. news’s figures create reactions. – It shows that there has not been a real ban on dividends, says SV deputy leader Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes. SV voted to give companies electricity support, as part of a package to deal with the electricity price crisis. – We proposed that there should not be an electricity subsidy scheme for business, precisely because it would lead to taxpayers’ money going astray. This only emphasizes that we had a point, says Fylkesnes today. This is how news has worked news has, through data runs, linked accounts with the amounts companies received from the Energy Subsidy Scheme. Of the 3189 companies, news has found public accounts for 2782 companies. These companies received a total of just under NOK 2.59 billion. The remaining 407 companies were either not obliged to deliver public accounts or their accounts were not ready yet. These received a total of just under NOK 0.2 billion. When news talks about profit, it refers to operating profit. news has been in contact with eleven companies as part of the work with the dividend figures. Two of these refer to errors in the accounts at the Brønnøysund registers, where intra-group debt has been registered as dividends. These are taken from news’s overall figures. The errors were corrected in the public accounts after news made contact. news uses the group accounts when it comes to companies with dividends. For companies with group contributions, the accounts of subsidiaries that have received support are used. If the companies have given dividends or group contributions, they must pay back the electricity subsidy. The government recommends that companies contact Enova, which manages the scheme, State Secretary Halvard Ingebrigtsen (Ao) has told news. Pointing to the government When the government put forward the electricity subsidy for business, it was designed in collaboration with LO and NHO. – We are happy that we have now come up with a solution that all parties can support, said LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik, when the arrangement came about. LO says that they have always been very skeptical of the schemes they supported. Among other things, they advocated dividend and bonus restrictions. – When an electricity support scheme was nevertheless designed for the companies, LO fought for limitations in this. We did this knowing that there are opportunities for circumvention of such support schemes, as well as that it is both difficult and expensive to check afterwards, says Roger Bjørnstad, who is chief economist at LO. Industry Minister Jan Christian Vestre (centre) presented electricity support to the business community together with LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik (left) and NHO leader Ole Erik Almlid (right). Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB NHO negotiated with the government about the electricity subsidy on behalf of business. – 3,200 companies have used the scheme, and the vast majority of companies have not taken dividends/group contributions, says deputy managing director of NHO Anniken Hauglie. Hauglie says that NHO did not want a strict ban on dividends. – We have argued that the restrictions should at least include the possibility of taking dividends for payment of wealth tax and/or wages to the working owner. Anniken Hauglie is deputy managing director of NHO. Photo: Hallvard Norum / news Some were allowed to give dividends The dividend ban was not absolute. Groups that received crisis support could give their owners a dividend. This is because the dividend ban only applies to the subsidiary that received support – not the other companies in the group. NHO believes that this is logical. – This means that a subsidiary could apply for the electricity subsidy, without it affecting the whole group, says Hauglie. The fact that the group was allowed to take a dividend is a result of the fact that no lessons were learned from the corona support packages, Fylkesnes in SV believes. – This was one of the problems during the shutdown as well, that companies that were organized in groups had extra opportunities to extract public funds. – It is very strange that news, through data runs, has linked accounts with the amounts companies received from the Energy Subsidy Scheme. Photo: Skjermdump / news The check that the companies with the dividend ban is based on random samples. – I find that very strange, says Fylkesnes. When asked why they did not check all the companies through technical or systematic checks, Ingebrigtsen in the Ministry of Business and Industry said: – It is Enova that is going to carry out this random check. And I feel confident that Enova will carry out the control that gives the best possible effect. State Secretary Halvard Ingebrigtsen (Ap). Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB Most made a profit news has previously written that two-thirds of the companies that received electricity support made a profit. These companies received a total of NOK 1.8 billion in crisis aid. The power support probably helped some, Fylkesnes believes. – But for most, this was pure profit, he says. In NHO, they have a different view. – The fact that some companies turned a profit after receiving support is also an expression that the scheme has worked. By avoiding negative results, the companies have been able to raise new capital more easily, take care of equipment and expertise and start the transition to a new and greener economy, says Hauglie. The Conservative Party was a key promoter of electricity support for business. They have not answered news’s questions in the matter.
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