The power ghost is back – Speech

When electricity prices ran wild in the autumn of 2021, many experienced both fear and a curse. Although the government will object that they quickly put in place a world-class power support, they neither succeeded in informing nor reassuring people in time. Many were simply terrified of the electricity bills. When you read daily in the newspapers that it now costs a hundred kroner to take a shower and that it was almost cheaper to buy takeaway food than to use the oven, it does something to people. Norwegians have been used to most things being expensive, but electricity in particular has been affordable in Norway. Therefore, it was an absurd winter in 2022 where students showered at the fitness centre, pensioners washed clothes at night and we all sat bundled up in woolen socks and blankets. It did something with the feeling that something was terribly wrong with our power system. The appetite for developing new power is not at all in line with the anger over electricity prices, writes Tone Sofie Aglen in this statement. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB The problem is that the politicians would like to have the best of both worlds: They want the market that can sell the cheap hydropower at a high price abroad, get low prices in return on other days and security of supply. But they don’t want the high prices in return. Selling chickens in rainy weather Power is not only a vital infrastructure, it is also a commodity that many think that Norway, with its rich resources of hydropower, wind and oil, should have more than enough of. Hydropower costs an average of 12 øre to produce for each kilowatt hour. In the last ten years before the price crisis started in 2021, electricity cost an average of 30-35 øre per kilowatt hour. The electricity subsidy only starts when the price drops to 73 øre. And it was interesting to see that people were just as upset in Trøndelag and in Northern Norway, where electricity prices were normal, as in those parts of the country that had a serious impact on electricity costs. It has been a real uphill battle for the government to explain and defend the power market, which almost requires a PhD in itself. And although it is a meager consolation that Erna Solberg and Høyre would have struggled just as much, it is now Støre’s crew that got this problem in their lap. Although both Jonas Gahr Støre and Energy Minister Terje Lien Aasland have made a persistent effort as the market’s defender, it is like selling chickens in rainy weather when electricity prices skyrocket. Although both Jonas Gahr Støre and Energy Minister Terje Lien Aasland have made a persistent effort as the market’s defender, it is like selling chickens in rainy weather when electricity prices skyrocket, writes Tone Sofie Aglen. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB Many of those who usually stand up for the free market, think this should not exactly apply to electricity. Although no one cheers for the market on those days of the year when electricity is at a give-away price. The echo from Nidaros Because they end up completely in the shadow of such days as we are experiencing now, when it is dark and windless in Europe (the so-called “dark flute”) and the sky-high prices spread via the foreign cables to the Norwegian homes. When the water reservoirs are full, it’s windy and consumption is moderate, one can be led to believe that the power problem has disappeared. But on such cold winter days it appears like a ghost. Nevertheless, it may appear that this defense of the system is cracking a little. On Wednesday evening, Ingvild Kjerkol and Are Tomasgaard moved out on behalf of Aps’ program committee to scrap the plans for a new cable to Denmark. Even if it is only a faint echo of the electricity criticism from Jørn Eggum’s Fellesforbundet and Trond Giskes Nidaro’s social democratic forum which is about “taking back control”, there is at the same time a half-recognition that the power cables to abroad are the problem. But the government’s electricity problems are unlikely to stop with the burial of the Denmark cable. Even if the electricity subsidy takes the worst price spikes, it has some obvious weaknesses: Only covers part of the bill: Electricity consumption is only a part of what we pay as a whole. In many places, net rent has increased sharply, and it will probably continue to increase significantly. Together with VAT and taxes, it contributes to high electricity bills. Affects lopsidedly: Business does not receive electricity support, and it particularly affects smaller companies that do not have long-term contracts. Many people react to the fact that business in southern Norway in particular pays a very high price. Nothing to laugh about in the cabin: Electricity support does not apply to cabins, holiday homes and secondary homes either. Although one can easily object that more than one home is a luxury, there are far more than Kjell Inge Røkke and the other riches who have cabins in this country. Moreover, what is supposed to be the big solution to the power problem is not going so well either: More grids, more power and more energy. The appetite for developing new power is not at all in line with the anger over electricity prices. Wind power is still a word that few politicians dare to use in their mouths, and the belief in offshore wind as a fast source of energy has suffered a setback. Only nuclear power, which in any case lies well into the future, seems to be in the tailwind. We tend to prefer the source of energy that is farthest from us in time at any given time. The child’s egg that disappeared Network development is slow, and faces obstacles from everything from reindeer husbandry and nature conservation to business economists and those who ultimately have to pay network rent. Along with the drag, there was also confidence in the whole green shift. It was a simple solution to the climate crisis when it was thought that you could electrify your way out of it. But with power shortages and high electricity prices, the whistle has taken on a different sound. Now enthusiasm is turning for everything from battery factories to electrification of the shelf, the kinder eggs that would solve the climate problem and give Norway something to live on after the oil. The three-leaf clover Støre, Vedum and Aasland experienced this painfully when they presented the Melkøya plans in Hammerfest in the run-up to the election campaign last year. What they thought was a gift package for northern Norway is described by many as the most important reason for the fall of the governing parties in the north. It can easily be objected that the critics of the electricity market have nothing but problem descriptions to offer. But it is often the good description of the problem that moves the voters. And what are supposed to be the long-term solutions the voters do not want at all. A new winter with high and partly incomprehensible electricity prices is probably the last thing this government needs as a warm-up for the long election campaign. Perhaps with the exception of a harrowing leadership battle. The fact that it is windy at the peaks is, if nothing else, good for the electricity bill. Published 12/12/2024, at 17.10 Updated 12.12.2024, at 17.33



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