Response to interpellation 2022/23:138 on electricity support for companies
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns electricity support for companies and the government's management of the energy crisis. KD argues that it is not possible to provide a fixed date for the electricity support because the payments must be based on historical data 1. KD takes responsibility for leading Sweden through the crisis and plans to increase electricity production 1. KD argues that the commission cannot be pushed to work faster 1 and that they are ahead of Germany and Finland in the work regarding electricity support 2. S considers that the government has failed its most important election promise regarding electricity price support by November 1 3 4 5. S argues that the government is dragging its feet 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! Aida Birinxhiku has asked me if I can currently provide further information on when the companies will receive their promised electricity support and how I intend to act so that the companies receive their promised electricity support as soon as possible.
The Government gave the business enterprise Svenska kraftnät on 22 December 2022 the assignment to re-apply to Energimarknadsinspektionen to use so-called bottleneck revenues to finance measures that, in the short term, may benefit businesses and legal entities - this following Svenska kraftnät's previous proposal regarding electricity support to companies, after Energimarknadsinspektionen's decision on the addition of a cap and the associated application procedure was judged to be in conflict with the EU's state aid rules.
Svenska kraftnät received a tight deadline, and they submitted a new application to Energimarknadsinspektionen on 4 January 2023. The application was approved on 11 January 2023. According to Svenska kraftnät's proposal, the electricity support will be covered by the EU's state aid rules. Consequently, the EU Commission must give its approval before the payments of the electricity support to the companies can be initiated. The Government intends to make a state aid notification to the EU Commission in the near future.
Aida Birinxhiku (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer! During the election campaign, the government and the Sweden Democrats promised that a high-cost protection against the high electricity prices would be in place on November 1. Households and companies were promised compensation well before Christmas, and it was the government's single most important and clearest election promise.
Exactly three months have passed this morning, and there is still not a single forecast for when or how the companies will receive their electricity support. This applies to both the general electricity support and the targeted support for electricity-intensive companies. The only message that Energy and Business Minister Ebba Busch provides is that the companies can continue to wait for an indefinite period, and it is nothing other than a non-announcement.
The government promised to support the companies and save the jobs, but companies all over the country are warning of more and more bankruptcies and extensive layoffs. In recent weeks, I have spoken with many worried business owners, not least in my home county of Halland. Several small business owners are currently on their knees. They soon have no other choice than to lay off all employees and shut down completely. The absence of clear messages from the government means that they can neither plan nor act in this difficult situation.
I have also spoken with many employees who are terrified of losing their jobs. If they become unemployed, they will never be able to make the household finances work in tough times like these. This issue is also about their security and the possibility of providing for their family.
What they all have in common is that they trusted the government's promise. They trusted that an electricity price compensation would be in place on November 1. They trusted that their finances would be saved well before Christmas, and they trusted that they would be able to plan their finances based on the government's promise. Therefore, I understand that they are disappointed time and again.
Madam Speaker! The government is failing to deliver on its single most important election promise. Even representatives of the government parties are openly disappointed. At the same time, Minister Ebba Busch claims that they are doing exactly what they promised in the election, even though not a single krona has been paid out to any company or household.
The Minister is also trying to rewrite history when it comes to what the government promised in the election and blames everything and everyone except the government that issued the election promise itself. It is a slap in the face to all those companies and families who are currently struggling to make the finances work.
It is time for Minister Ebba Busch and the rest of the government to take responsibility and provide clearer information, because excuses do not pay the companies' electricity bills. Initiatives that can alleviate the situation are welcome, but it is far from enough. The companies need the electricity support here and now. They need the money that the government has repeatedly promised them. Simply urging the companies to continue waiting for an indefinite period is not good enough.
Madam Speaker! My question to Minister Ebba Busch could not be clearer: When will the Minister ensure that the companies receive their promised electricity support?
Linus Sköld (S)
Madam Speaker! Earlier this afternoon, the Minister had a debate on when my Norrbotnian neighbors will be informed about what the electricity price support will look like for northern Sweden. I intended to also raise the same question in this part of the debate, which focuses more on the conditions for companies.
As my colleague pointed out, we have a government that has made a clear election promise. On November 1, the electricity price support was supposed to be in place. The betrayal is great. Not a single krona has been paid out.
Nor even to the companies has any notice been given. On January 25, the newspaper Norrländska Socialdemokraten wrote about this. The CEO of Nyhléns Hugosons, which is a large meat producer in Luleå in Norrbotten, testifies that the electricity price varies by 150 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. The electricity bill is therefore 150 percent higher for this incredibly energy-dependent company.
It is a hard blow for a company that I think should wait for the minister's announcement. At the same time, Magnus Nilsson, who is the CEO, says that he does not expect any electricity price support, due to the signals received from the government.
So flagrant is the breach of promise that the entrepreneurs who are completely dependent on the government delivering on the election promise they have set out have stopped counting on a decision ever coming.
Please, Ebba Busch, give a statement here in the speaker's chair today! When will the support come, and what will it look like?
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! I would like to recapitulate some of what I have stated earlier this afternoon for those who have not seen the entire debate that has characterized the day.
It is actually not legal or possible for a state to refund capacity fees, the so-called bottleneck revenues, in the way that is now occurring. There are two regulatory frameworks that enable this. It concerns partly the EU crisis intervention regulation from October last autumn, and partly the crisis framework from March 2022.
If a Member State provides illegal aid, i.e., that it is still not compatible with the state aid rules, the Commission can decide that it violates EU law. The Member State can then reclaim the aid from the aid recipients, including compound interest. This is a situation that no entrepreneur is interested in. This also applies even if it leads to the company having to be declared bankrupt - the worst imaginable situation.
Even a Swedish court can examine whether a measure constitutes a state aid that should have been reported to the Commission. If the Member State refuses to comply with the Commission's decision, the Commission may choose to bring an action before the Court of Justice of the EU. The Member State then risks being convicted of a treaty violation with significant fines as a consequence if it does not comply with the decision.
This is what we have to deal with. A blue government has to deal with it, and a red government would have had to deal with it. We cannot bypass this.
This is also the reason why this government has chosen to maintain such an incredibly high pace, which other parts of the opposition have criticized. They have gone so far as to also have reported the undersigned to the Committee on the Constitution with external criticism that the work has proceeded too quickly.
I do not share that opinion for clear reasons. I know that even though this government is doing everything we can to speed this up, because we are painfully aware of how the entrepreneurs are doing and thus also how the employees, i.e., those who receive their wages through these companies, risk having it, we still have to adhere to the next process with the EU Commission. That is the situation we are in now.
For that reason, I will not promise anything that I do not have good prospects of being able to keep. I emphasize once again that there are a number of interviews, town hall meetings, and conversations with voters where we have explicitly stated that it is not possible to set a fixed date for when the money for the electricity support will be in the account. It also stands clearly and distinctly on my own party's website.
I understand the dynamics of politics and media dramaturgy; one would like to paint a picture that such a promise would have been given. But it does not become any truer just because it is repeated more times. It cannot be bypassed, and I also think that the members who claim this are responsible when I have time and again pointed out and read aloud what is stated on our website, if one does not believe the statements from others, previously conducted interviews where some such promises were never presented.
However, the promise is to maintain as high a pace as possible.
Aida Birinxhiku (S)
Madam Speaker! During the recent party leader debate here in the chamber, the Minister stated the following: "We have enough politicians who blame their mistakes on others and do not want to take responsibility themselves."
But now the Minister is trying to rewrite the history of what she promised in the election, even though the joint election promise that the governing parties issued together could not have been clearer. The Minister also blames previous Social Democratic governments by repeating inaccuracies about the conducted energy policy, even though the governing parties have had a decisive influence over the energy policy that has applied until now.
It is no one other than the government itself that bears the responsibility for having failed to deliver on its own election promise. Instead of wasting time on excuses, the government must now take its responsibility, act promptly and give the companies clearer instructions.
Madam Speaker! I am happy to discuss what has been said and what has been done, but what the companies want to know is what will happen moving forward. The Minister emphasizes that this issue is of the highest priority for the government. But it is difficult to believe for several reasons.
Firstly, the process is further delayed by the fact that the government, at the eleventh hour, withdrew the first electricity support proposal, as if it were news to the government that EU law imposes certain limitations on this type of support.
Secondly, the government presents that the EU owns the timeframe. But the Commission's spokesperson has been clear that the time taken largely depends on the timing and quality of the government's dialogue with the Commission before the notification. Furthermore, I assume that the government continues to work with the electricity support in parallel with the EU Commission's review once a notification has been made.
For the third time, the government says no to our proposal for an electricity bill emergency, which is nevertheless remarkable considering that the Prime Minister himself promised to introduce such in the election.
We Social Democrats have demanded that the government quickly introduce an electricity bill emergency to help companies and families pay their electricity bills until the electricity support is in place. The government responds, however, that it has not been possible to introduce on short notice, despite it being the government that dragged out the time to process our proposal.
Finally, I note that the government is also not acting to solve the issue in the long term. The government and Sverigedemokraterna are worsening the conditions for offshore wind power, the expansion of which is absolutely crucial to bring down electricity prices as quickly as possible. Furthermore, the government refuses to invite cross-bloc energy dialogues, despite the market actors having requested long-term rules of the game so that they can invest in new electricity production.
Madam Speaker! The companies do not want the Minister's sympathy, they want clear information. The least they can demand, three full months after the electricity price compensation was supposed to be in place, is to receive some kind of information on when or how the money will arrive so that they can at least plan in this difficult situation, so that more companies do not have to go bankrupt or more people lose their jobs before the delayed electricity support is in place.
Madam Speaker! Therefore, I repeat my question to the Minister: When will the Minister ensure that the companies receive the promised electricity support?
Linus Sköld (S)
Madam Speaker! This is what the sickly pallor of reflection looks like. Now Ebba Busch stands in the chamber and says that she will not promise anything that she cannot keep.
Too late! Some high-cost protection for households and companies never happened. That was what Ebba Busch promised during the election campaign. One cannot say that any alternative for the companies is in place. The minister cannot even claim that. No one forced Ebba Busch to promise that a high-cost protection would be in place by November 1. Still, she did.
Why does she promise something that she stands and says today is not legal or possible? When will the notice reach the entrepreneurs? Or is it simply that all of Sweden's entrepreneurs should do as Magnus Nilsson, CEO of Nyhléns Hugosons in Luleå, namely simply stop expecting that an electricity price subsidy will ever come to the companies?
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! I say it again: it doesn't matter, however much enthusiasm there is among some members of Parliament, if it is not possible to discuss measures moving forward, if it is not possible to draw lessons and conclusions about why Sweden is in this vulnerable position without misinterpreting how I have, in plain language in interview after interview, when we have presented news during the election campaign, in speeches and on our own website, pointed out that a promise of an exact date for money for the electricity subsidy cannot be given because it must be based on historical data.
It says verbatim; I am reading for members who were not present in the interpellation debates earlier this afternoon: However, it will only be possible to decide what each household shall receive in compensation in retrospect when price and consumption are known. It is therefore not realistic that electricity customers will receive money in their accounts before Christmas.
We have been completely transparent with this. Then I understand that there is an interest in playing this up to overshadow the fact that one is responsible for having dismantled crucial parts of Swedish electricity production.
It is this question that recurs. Is it about pointing fingers? No, it is about demanding accountability. I take my responsibility for leading Sweden through the energy crisis. But one must also learn the lessons of why Sweden has been so vulnerable in a difficult situation with an energy crisis that affects all of Europe, which is strongly impacted by Putin's war of invasion in Ukraine.
This is the hunt for the missing megawatts; 3,000 megawatts have disappeared. One has, with eyes wide open, decommissioned fully functioning nuclear power. In this chamber, people applauded when the decision to decommission Ringhals 1 and 2 was passed. There, we are talking about proportions. And then one has the nerve to stand here in the chamber and complain about the pace when other parts of the opposition think it has gone too fast.
It is not possible to push the commission faster. We have a close and frequent dialogue, and we are trying to do what we can to ensure they have everything they need to be able to move forward as soon as possible. But it is not possible to fully compensate when the most basic parts are lacking. The message is that we will prioritize this – we have done so until now – and we will return when we have an exact date.
One thing I truly agree with, namely that companies are not served by sympathy. That is why it has been so deeply problematic that representatives for the government and the Riksdag for so many years have come to what I call coffee parties and complained about the risks of increased prices, that it has become more expensive to be an entrepreneur in Sweden with greater uncertainties, but then have not taken the political responsibility to build the Swedish electricity system more robustly. That responsibility is mine and the government's.
You are very welcome to evaluate us in the coming years. We will do everything we can to increase electricity production and ensure that there is enough electricity where it is needed when it is needed, so that those types of discussions about putting bandages on the wounds become a thing of the past and instead, a strong production is built up again.
Aida Birinxhiku (S)
Madam Speaker! I want to use my final speech to remind of the very purpose of the debate, namely to receive information regarding the promised electricity support for the companies. I note, however, that in this debate there has been a greater interest in returning to excuses instead of returning with information to Swedish companies.
I understand if those listening to the debate feel even more despondent. The government promised that they would be compensated for the high electricity prices on November 1, and now, almost three months later, they cannot get a single piece of information on when the money will arrive.
What does the Minister think we should answer worried companies and families after this debate? That the government is doing exactly what was promised in the election, even though they haven't received a single krona, that they are just imagining that the government issued the election promise, or that it is everyone else's fault that the companies have not received their promised electricity support?
There is only one answer that companies across the country demand and that I have repeatedly demanded in the debate, and that is the answer to the question of when the companies will receive the electricity support that the government has repeatedly promised them. But Minister for Energy and Business Ebba Busch has no answer.
Madam Speaker! I would like to thank the Minister for the debate, but I regret that the Minister does not give the companies clearer information. I regret that companies are forced to continue waiting for an indefinite period, and I regret that it is companies and families who have to take the hit for the government's broken election promises.
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! It is impossible to escape the fact that I repeatedly and clearly and brutally said during the election campaign that it is not possible to state an exact date for when the money will be in the account. You will not get away with that.
With this said, I truly regret that we are in this situation, and my main task is to ensure that we do not end up in such a vulnerable position again.
I also do not agree with the image that I have not given an answer. I have given the painful answer that, at the current stage, we cannot set a date. Now we are waiting for the process that follows with the EU Commission. That is the honest and straightforward answer. No one is served by an answer that does not hold.
I will maintain that I will not let anyone get away with half-truths or claims that are incorrect. But I want to point out that we are ahead in the work with electricity support compared to Germany and Finland, which are countries that we usually try to compare ourselves with, and that this electricity support compared to the previous electricity support actually contains a support for the companies, even if it is delayed for the time being. The previous government had zero in compensation to the companies.
With that said: We are doing everything we can. The government has done its part to ensure that this proceeds as quickly as possible. It was the government that concluded that the first model presented was not compatible with the state aid rules. It was not we who had developed the model. We received it and determined that this needed to be redone, and we set an incredibly tight timeframe over Christmas and New Year. We are very much aware of how heavy this is for the companies and how heavily it is borne by many households when the companies have not yet received a decision. We will do everything we can to come back with an exact date. That is the straight message.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.