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The increase in electricity grid rates has become a growing social problem. Energy Minister Anders Ygeman (S) has pledged to repeatedly reduce electricity grid rates. But now he is instead pushing a bill that allows power grid companies to raise prices and charge an additional SEK 28 billion from power grid customers over the next eight years.
On Thursday, the issue will be raised in the business committee. Only the Left Party and the Sweden Democrats currently oppose the bill, which therefore appears to be in the works.
It’s different from last fall. Anders Ygeman then tried to pass a similar bill, which was later halted after a DN review. Now this is in a slightly redesigned variant.
– It is outrageous. On paper, power grid companies must invest in power grids in return. But the adjustment that has been made since last fall is insufficient, says Stefan Yard, a professor emeritus at Lund University and one of Sweden’s largest authorities on power grid regulations.
The most important advisory bodies fully saw the proposal. Among others, the Confederation of Swedish Companies, the Swedish Consumer Agency and the municipalities and regions of Sweden. And above all the supervisory authority Energimarknadinspektionen, which writes from top to bottom that electricity grid companies already receive coverage for their investments under the current regulatory system “which means that the proposal only leads to higher profits.”
Still, the bill appears to be passing.
Professor Stefan Yard continues:
– I do not understand why the Moderates and the Center Party turned and now support the proposal. In practice, nothing leads to higher investment.
– I understand that there may be criticism, says Lars Hjälmered (M), president of the business committee and continues:
– We have decided to support the compromise. I wish we could push even more, but we are not there.
Lars Hjälmered admits that there may be price increases for electricity customers.
Explain: why do you vote yes if the Energy Market Inspection says it only leads to an increase in rates and profits?
– It must also be taken into account that Anders Ygeman and the state have lost legal proceedings and that the electricity grid companies have thus been able to increase rates in this way. That is a fact and must be taken into account in a political assessment. The important thing is to take control of the process now in the future.
The prelude is to know that In recent decades, power grid companies have appealed against government decisions and thus have been able to dramatically increase utility grid rates.
The Minister of Energy, Anders Ygemans (S), tried to end the judicial process by entering into an agreement with the electricity grid companies in the fall of 2019, which meant that they would stop appealing if they received the 28,000 million additional revenue from customers, ie. what is now the basis of the bill.
But in the shadows, power grid companies have continued to appeal, despite the Anders Ygeman deal in 2019.
As recently as February 26 of this year, Eon, Vattenfall and Ellevio won a mainly important sentence in the Linköping administrative court. The ruling overturned a high-profile government initiative in which electricity prices would be lowered starting in 2020. Price cuts were initiated. But now everything points to the price rising again.
The ruling has been appealed by the Energy Market Inspection.
The bill is sensitive to Anders Ygeman in a different way. If it falls, the two regional initiatives run the risk of increasing the effect of electricity in Stockholm and Skåne would fall.
Energy Minister Anders Ygeman said he did not have time to appear for an interview on Wednesday, but chose to give a written response in which no follow-up questions can be asked.
The Energy Market Inspectorate writes that the proposal “only leads to increased profits.” Professor Stefan Yard warns of rising electricity prices. You are wrong?
– Power grid companies have long appealed revenue limits. It is very likely that the power grid companies acted in the same way this time, with higher rates for consumers as a result.
Ygeman also writes that power grid companies must make large investments and solve local capacity problems. This goes directly against the analysis of the Energy Market Inspection.
