A majority of the parties in the Storting will interrupt the holiday early in order to adopt electricity measures. This is now being dealt with by the presidency of the Storting. SV supports the Storting being convened during the holidays. But since the party has an agreement to negotiate with the government first, Ap and Sp are obliged to try to agree with SV before a new electricity policy can be adopted in the Storting. – The budget agreement obliges both SV and the government parties to negotiate on everything that has budgetary consequences, so it is natural that we three parties sit down together, says fiscal policy spokesperson in SV, Kari Elisabeth Kaski. If the three parties agree, they will have a majority in the Storting to adopt new electricity measures. – We have good contact with SV and they are the ones we are contacting now. We agree to review the current electricity subsidy scheme for households, says Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. – Must make a decision during August The government has the authority to take some measures without the Storting. But the electricity subsidy scheme is linked to the state budget and must therefore go through the Storting. – The government is taking a wide range of measures now, ensuring that the water reservoirs are filled and ensuring that power is not exported when we have a low level of filling in the reservoirs. But in a number of other areas, a decision in the Storting may be relevant, and then we will come to the Storting, says Støre. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre says that the government is considering accelerating the electricity subsidy to 1 September. Photo: Beate Oma Dahle / NTB SV believes it is urgent to start the negotiations in order to get stronger measures ready already this month. – It is obvious that when we talk about the electricity subsidy scheme, it has such big budgetary consequences that the government cannot do it on its own. The Storting must adopt that, says Kaski. – When must this happen? – As fast as possible. Now it is urgent because electricity prices are sky high. When the electricity subsidy scheme was last negotiated in April, SV and the governing parties agreed to negotiate again in October. Now there are many reasons to speed this up, says Kaski. – The Storting must make a decision during August. This means that we have to start conversations quite quickly. SV is ready to sit down. SV will demand this As the support scheme now looks, from 1 October the state will cover 90 per cent of the price of electricity above 70 øre per hour. This is as long as consumption does not exceed 5,000 kilowatts per hour per month. Sigbjørn Gjelsvik (Sp), Kari Elisabeth Kaski (SV) and Frode Jacobsen (Ap) presented the current electricity package after negotiations in April. Photo: Kristian Skårdalsmo / news Several parties have said that they want to speed up this arrangement to 1 September, and this is one of the reasons why an urgent meeting is now wanted. SV wants both a better support scheme and other electricity measures. They demand: Improve the electricity subsidy scheme for households Support for and demands for energy efficiency Dialogue with Great Britain and Germany on renegotiating the power exchange agreements Demands for how much water should be in the water reservoirs These demands are what they must now negotiate with the government about. The government has also previously said that they are looking at several of these measures. Working with measures Labor has also said that they are also looking at the possibilities for a support scheme for business. – Small and medium-sized businesses need support, and it may be that we need to come to the Storting with a case, says Støre. Power support for businesses is not on SV’s priority list, but Kaski does not rule out that they can negotiate about this as well. But Jonas Gahr Støre tells news that no proposals are ready for the Storting now. – If the Storting wants to meet during the holidays, I think that’s perfectly fine for us. There is no case from the government in the Storting now. But now we are working on both measures to have a good electricity support scheme for families and measures in relation to businesses. He says it is possible that the government will present a case before the Storting opens on 3 October. – This could mean that we can come up with a case before the Storting meets in the autumn, and before the state budget arrives. It can be very natural.
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SV demands separate negotiations before an emergency meeting in the Storting – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
