Market issues
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
SD wants cheap and stable electricity by expanding electricity production and the power grid throughout the country 1. SD believes that more nuclear power as well as solar and wind power are needed 2. SD argues that nuclear power shutdowns occurred on market grounds 2 but also that they were politically driven through taxation 3. SD believes that low electricity prices five to six years ago were due to subsidies for wind power 3 and that Sweden cannot manage the electricity when it is windy 3. S believes that the electricity market is characterized by too large price variations and that the price differences between northern and southern Sweden are unfair 1. S wants to expand offshore wind power and advocates for a reformed revenue regulation for the power grid 1. S believes that the shutdown of nuclear power was not a political decision but was due to poor profitability and increased safety requirements 4.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Josef Fransson (SD)
Mr. Speaker! Today we are debating NUl7 Market Issues, which is a pure motion report. From SD, we have no reservations in the report, and I therefore move for the rejection of all reservations.
Mr. Speaker! Energy is the basis of modern society and of our prosperity. One can call much of what we use energy for conveniences, but our dependence is so strong that it is impossible to go back. The availability of energy is the fundamental reason why humanity has been able to go from approximately 2 billion to 8 billion people in just around 100 years.
The energy used correlates almost perfectly with a country's prosperity. Here, the price of energy becomes completely decisive. In some of the world's richest and most developed countries, people are talking today about increasing energy poverty, which is usually measured by the fact that people cannot afford to heat their homes. This is often due to insane political decisions, such as shutting down functioning nuclear power.
If the costs for energy become higher, it is not just about higher electricity bills and more expensive fuel for the car. As I said, energy is the basis of our prosperity. It does not just pump water to our taps, but it is also used to purify the water from harmful chemicals and organisms. It is further used to create the infrastructure that makes the water reach our homes.
Energy does not only power our refrigerators, our cars and our hospitals; it is a fundamental input in every industrial process and in transport so that industrially manufactured goods can reach the places where people are. With more expensive energy, everything becomes more expensive. People pay not only with convenience, but with their health.
Because of what I have just said, it is provoking to see how easily politicians can jeopardize our energy security through ill-considered, ideologically driven decisions. It is about decommissioning fully functioning nuclear power, creating cost increases on car and transport fuels, and creating an unstable and weather-dependent electricity system that drives up prices for both electricity and electricity transmission.
To drive forward energy poverty through active decisions, intentionally or due to incompetence, is to cause suffering for other people, and in that case, very strong reasons must apply. That one does not like the world's safest type of energy, nuclear power, is not such a reason. That one vacuums up the world market for biofuels so that one can pat oneself on the back for national emission reductions is also not such a reason.
Mr. Speaker! Investment is now being made in the electricity grid like never before. The current annual rate is around 30 billion in electricity grid activities, but the figure is expected to increase sharply in the future to meet new needs, which in one way or another are politically driven. There is now talk of 1,000 billion for the electricity grid over the next 20–25 years, which is driven by climate transitions and electrification.
How these costs will be distributed among consumers remains to be seen, but I find it difficult to see that this will not be passed on to them with a noticeably higher price per transferred unit of energy.
The business entity Svenska kraftnät is by far the largest investor, with this year's 14.6 billion in forecast. Furthermore, an increase to 25 billion per year after 2030 is projected. These are large sums.
At the time before Sweden began expanding wind power, Svenska kraftnät's investment frameworks were around 0.5–1 billion per year, but from 2009 onwards we have seen a steeply increasing cost development. Even inflation-adjusted, Svenska kraftnät has increased its investment frameworks by approximately 1,400 percent over 20 years – a fifteenfold increase!
There are naturally several reasons for this, but it is difficult to see anything other than that it coincides well with the expansion of wind power and later with the decommissioning of nuclear power in southern Sweden.
The driving force behind the increased transmission needs in the north-south direction is a large expansion of wind power in the north and the decommissioning of nuclear power in the south. The same applies to many of the international cables that integrate the Nordic countries with Europe. I do not have an exact figure on what Svenska kraftnät has spent on international cables in recent years, but one should know that it amounts to tens of billions of kronor.
The Elkund collective has to pay through increased fees – all because we have to dump almost all the wind power produced in Sweden to the continent.
Mr. Speaker! For Sweden and its population, it is crucial that we politicians make wise decisions to keep energy prices low. I am not just talking about electricity prices, but about system prices including transmission. Regarding electricity production, it is about building stable, predictable base power near the end user. In that way, we can reduce the need for investment in the grid and various costly system services. We should completely stop building wind power because at this point we know that they are enormous loss-making deals.
As we have discussed previously here in the chamber, it is also the case that virtually all added wind power electricity is forced out of Sweden and lands down on the continent. We are therefore subsidizing electricity towards the continent with Swedish tax money in various stages. Only Vattenfall's wind power investments are running with multi-billion losses. They support it with other parts of their operations, but the wind power part – actually all wind power production – is dragged down by red figures. The only ones who can make money on wind power today are those who build the wind turbines. It has gone too far, and it is my firm conviction that it is not there we should apply the political force.
Monica Haider (S)
Mr. Speaker! Today we are debating the Committee on Enterprise's report on Market Issues. I would like to begin by moving for approval of reservation 1.
Mr. Speaker! Sweden is undergoing an extensive electrification. Industry is transitioning, the transport sector is changing, and the entire society is to become fossil-free. This places high demands on the electricity system but also on how the electricity market functions in practice.
What is important is that households and companies have access to stable, reasonable and predictable electricity prices. That is not quite the case today. The electricity market is characterized to an all too high degree by large price variations, uncertainty and unpredictability. This creates insecurity for households and worsens the competitive conditions for companies.
This is reinforced by what is happening in our global environment right now. The war in the Middle East, an uncertain security situation, and rising energy, oil, and gas prices on the world market affect electricity prices in Europe and thus here in Sweden. We have an integrated energy system where prices spill over between countries and types of energy. When the gas price rises in Europe, it affects the electricity price here.
Mr. Speaker! The electricity market does not deliver equivalent conditions across the entire country. The large price differences between the electricity areas are neither reasonable nor fair. They hit hardest in southern Sweden and affect both household finances and companies' opportunities to grow. Today, the spot price is 6.55 öre per kilowatt-hour in northern Sweden and 102.08 öre per kilowatt-hour in southern Sweden. It is actually not reasonable. We need to strengthen the transmission capacity within the country and develop the electricity system where the needs are greatest. The electricity grid must have sufficient capacity to transport the electricity to where it is needed.
Mr. Speaker! The energy system is the foundation of modern society and crucial for our development. Successful electrification is necessary to increase growth, create jobs and prosperity, and reach our climate goals. It strengthens Sweden's competitiveness and enables the export of climate-smart products that contribute to reduced emissions even in other countries. Electrification provides great opportunities for energy efficiency and reduced emissions, especially within the transport sector and the basic industries. Access to cheap and stable electricity is a crucial competitive advantage for Swedish companies.
We want the whole of Sweden to have the same low electricity prices. To reach that, continued expansion of both electricity production and the electricity grid throughout the country is required. More electricity is needed from hydropower, wind power, solar power, nuclear power, and bioenergy, while at the same time society needs to take greater responsibility for the electricity supply to ensure stable and long-term low prices. We therefore believe that the government should actively push within the EU for changes that can contribute to lower electricity prices here in Sweden.
Mr. Speaker! We note that electrification and the green transition require an electricity grid that can meet a significantly increased demand. At the same time, we see today a capacity shortage and long queues for companies that are not getting access to the electricity they need.
The power grids must be expanded more proactively and with a clearer societal perspective. This requires a higher investment rate but also a reformed revenue regulation that enables investments and protects electricity customers from sharp cost increases. Not only should investments in the grid be rewarded, but also smarter use of the grid.
Svenska kraftnät must ensure that other solutions are used to manage the increased electricity consumption and electricity production. Digitalization, AI, power electronics, and energy storage can contribute to a more efficient utilization of the electricity system. Flexibility services and aggregation also constitute important tools in this work.
The development of smart grids must continue. We need to expand offshore wind power, especially in southern Sweden, where the need is greatest. The government's decision on the changed mandate for Svenska kraftnät regarding not taking the costs for connection fees has had major consequences for the expansion of offshore wind power, which has now completely stalled. That mandate should be reinstated.
The Social Democratic government took important initiatives to shorten the permit processes, which made the lead times much shorter and less resource-intensive. This work must be continued, which the government is also doing.
Mr. Speaker! The government must take responsibility for the high electricity prices. That electricity support is now in place and being paid out is good, but it could have been done with bottleneck revenues if the government had stood its ground down in Brussels. The government needs to come to the Riksdag with proposals on how to handle the designated contracts so that customers are not left without contracts.
Mr. Speaker! A modern electricity system must be robust and resilient. Precisely in a situation of increased geopolitical unrest, this becomes even clearer. Sweden shall have an electricity supply that is robust and with a satisfactory level of preparedness. The threat picture is clearer than before, and the vulnerability with increased electrification makes the issue more pressing.
We need to have a long-term and stable energy policy in a restless world. We need a long-term energy agreement for Swedish households and companies. Long-term perspective is needed so that companies dare to invest. It is about stability in a situation where the world is unstable.
Josef Fransson (SD)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for the speech, Monica Haider!
As a politician, I think it is good if what one says and what one does go together. It is easy to say that one wants cheap and stable electricity and that one wants smaller price differences between the north and the south. But I do not think that corresponds particularly well with what the Social Democrats say they want to do in their reservation texts in the report, or in this statement for that part.
The Social Democrats want more weather-dependent power, i.e., from sun and wind, which we know at this point will leave Sweden on export because we cannot take care of it in Sweden.
The Social Democrats also want more grid, and more grid costs money. The primary reason for building the grid is that one wants to be able to export electricity from Sweden. I say this somewhat mockingly, but there is a very important truth in it.
A lot of nuclear power plants have been shut down previously – six in total. This has created a great need for transmission, partly from the north to the south, and partly to other countries.
People say they want offshore wind power, which involves enormously high connection costs that they want to place not only on the electricity consumer collective but even on the taxpaying collective through a mass of subsidies. In the end, it becomes a very expensive system. At the same time, people say they want cheap and stable electricity. It does not add up.
Mr. Speaker! Monica Haider is more than welcome to explain to the audience how she reconciles this equation, because I truly do not understand it.
Monica Haider (S)
Mr. Speaker! It would be good if the member had the history with him when he speaks about how it actually was five or six years ago regarding the energy situation in Sweden. We had very low electricity prices – and we still have the lowest electricity prices in Europe. That meant that the investments in nuclear power that were needed did not pay off. The calculation did not add up. That the solution to all energy problems in Sweden should be nuclear power is not correct, and Josef Fransson knows that very well.
Politics has not shut down nuclear power in Sweden. The only nuclear power plant that has been shut down by politics is Barsebäck. The other shutdowns were made on entirely market-based grounds. That can be read in article after article. Those who ran the companies at that time confirm this. They were, therefore, not political decisions. Do not bring up the electricity tax, because it was not decisive in this case!
Regarding weather-dependent power, I believe it is the future as well in Sweden. I also believe that more nuclear power is needed. But more both solar and wind power and everything else is also needed. Given how things look in the world right now, unilateral dependence on certain energy sources is quite dangerous and can become very expensive. I therefore absolutely do not agree with Josef Fransson regarding his analysis, but no one was probably surprised that we do not have the same opinion on this issue.
Josef Fransson (SD)
Mr. Speaker! To suggest that it was not political decisions that lay behind the recent nuclear power shutdowns is, in my view, pure historical revisionism. There was a clear demand, from the Green Party in particular, to form a government or to let a Social Democratic government through, that nuclear power plants should be shut down. That was resolved by taxing and increasing the power fee on nuclear power, among other things. Politically, they simply raised the price in such a way that it was no longer profitable.
Electricity prices were low five or six years ago, just as Monica Haider says. But that was because a lot of wind power had been pushed into the electricity system with subsidies, which the market never ever demanded. When it is calm, electricity prices are not particularly low. But as soon as it starts to blow, they drop. It is often even negative electricity prices. We have to dump the electricity because we cannot take care of it in Sweden.
At the same time as we have large surpluses of electricity, we have electricity consumers – companies – who want to invest in energy-intensive activities. A particularly well-known example is a bakery that could not make its investment because they were not granted any power allocation. The fact that there are huge surpluses of electricity on an annual basis that we cannot use in Sweden is not sufficient to allow this company to receive electricity in every single moment to be able to expand. It is a direct consequence of the decommissioning of nuclear power, which the Socialdemokraterna and Miljöpartiet and a few more parties stood behind.
Monica Haider (S)
Mr. Speaker! I believe that neither I nor Josef Fransson need to tell each other how the electricity market works. We both know that quite well.
Regarding the decommissioning of nuclear power, there were no political decisions, but Josef Fransson apparently knows more than anyone else in this chamber – even those who were there at the time when we on the red-green side held government power. It was definitely no political decisions that led to nuclear power being decommissioned. It was poor profitability and the fact that an accident occurred in Fukushima, which meant that safety requirements were raised very radically. At that point, it cost too much to get the existing nuclear power plants in order.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.