Response to interpellations 2022/23:78, 82 and 94 on electricity support for the whole country

Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Fredrik Lundh Sammeli has asked me why a household or company in northern Sweden with electricity costs as high as someone south of the Dalälven is denied a share of the support, and how I intend to act to compensate business owners and households in northern Sweden for their high electricity costs this winter. Isak From and Malin Larsson have asked similar questions. Since the interpellations are similar, I answer them together.

On 27 October 2022 - nine days after the government took office - we, together with the business enterprise Svenska kraftnät, presented the first model and the first round of the government's electricity support to Swedish households and companies with the ambition to begin payments to households in February 2023.

The proposal aims to help those households and companies that have been hit hard by the exceptionally high electricity prices of recent times. However, it is not intended to constitute a contribution to electricity customers in those electricity areas where prices have remained at normal or slightly elevated levels. Therefore, a reference price has been determined, above which the electricity price can be considered exceptionally high.

The level of the reference price has been set at 75 öre per kilowatt-hour. This is approximately 25 percent higher than the highest average electricity price recorded on the spot market during the last decade.

This level is also in proportion to the total amount of bottleneck revenues available for financing the electricity support. An excessively low reference price would simply risk that the funds would not be sufficient for all households.

This first proposal for electricity support is based on the electricity customers' electricity costs during the period October 2021 to September 2022. During this period, prices in northern Sweden have not exceeded the set reference price. Therefore, no compensation is also issued to households in northern Sweden in the first round.

Here I can also add that this is completely in line with the mandate that the previous government gave to Svenska kraftnät on 18 August 2022. In the mandate, it states clearly and distinctly that Svenska kraftnät shall particularly "take into account that the electricity price is geographically conditioned in such a way that the emergency measures primarily affect consumers and companies in southern Sweden".

Since we see a need to support households across the country for the high electricity prices, the government gave Svenska kraftnät the assignment on 9 January 2023 to apply for a new electricity subsidy from Energimarknadsinspektionen. The proposal should be based on the same reference price of 75 öre per kilowatt-hour as before, but based on the average electricity price during the months of November and December 2022. Since the price of electricity in northern Sweden has been higher during these months, households in electricity areas 1 and 2 will also be covered by the electricity subsidy.

Svenska kraftnät shall submit an application to Energimarknadsinspektionen no later than January 30, and the government plans for the payments to households of this support to be able to commence during the spring of 2023. The government has also proceeded according to what I have just described.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer! Finally, one might say, we are given the opportunity to have this debate. I requested this debate on December 1 - the same day the Minister stated that Norrland would be excluded from support. This is a completely unreasonable position that has created enormous anger and disappointment. It is yet another broken election promise that this government has delivered since it took office. The usual thing is that one promises one thing before the election and then delivers something else afterwards. We recognize it in how the Sverigedemokraterna, Moderaterna, Kristdemokraterna and Liberalerna have handled the issue of fuel prices, tax increases and slaughtered ambitions when it comes to climate and environment.

But when it comes to the issue of the high-cost protection for households and companies, which was promised to be in place on November 1 to save the households' finances, it is not just that you promised a high-cost protection and it became an electricity price subsidy and that tomorrow we write February 1 and no one has still seen any sign of this subsidy – it is also the case that you have managed to exclude all of Norrland and are still keeping the country's companies on the sidelines without clear announcements on how, what, and when the companies are to receive the subsidy.

Mr. Speaker! I hear what the Minister is answering to my questions, and I am glad that we have the opportunity to have this debate, but I do not understand how the government intended this. I would like the Minister to elaborate on how, during the election campaign, it could be so clearly promised that the entire country would receive a high-cost protection, only to then begin by excluding 1.2 million inhabitants in Norrland. For people living in that part of the country, electricity has by all means been cheaper, but the electricity price has also increased sharply there. Consumption is also many times greater for individuals, due to both a colder climate and longer winters, and in addition, already fundamentally higher costs for the grid fee.

There is nothing in the mandate that the previous government gave that says that Norrland should be excluded. It is true, as the Minister says, that the reference price during certain periods meant that this would not fall out across the entire country. But if we go back to last winter, there was an electricity price support from the Social Democratic-led government that was available for the entire country and which fell out differently across the country based on what the costs were. In that case, it is interesting to see why it was so important to present a model that did not include Norrland, regardless of cost.

What perspective of justice guided the Minister when you first landed on that a person or a company in northern Sweden with equally high electricity costs as someone south of the Dalälven would be denied participation in this support? That is my question fundamentally, and I do not think the answer addresses that part clearly enough.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Isak From (S)

Mr. Speaker! There are an incredibly large number of important issues right now. I have sat in the Riksdag for just over twelve years, and I have probably never witnessed the likes of such damned fellow citizens. It is, as colleague Fredrik Lundh Sammeli describes, a great frustration from ordinary people. Not least the fact that the government divides the country appears completely unacceptable: Are we a country, or how is this actually viewed? Is this reasonable? Is it allowed to do this? Is it legal? Can this not be forbidden? These are different forms of expressions that we are met with.

The electricity price has gone up over time, and we have the electricity system that we have and which we can, in fact, discuss, but the fact is that the bottleneck fees that actually finance this are also paid for by northern Sweden. It is part of the system that in order for the electricity companies to be able to sell, they can take a portion of the costs. We are also affected by the fact that Norway uses northern Sweden as a transit country and sends electricity through northern Sweden, which then goes back to southern Norway, where they have had very high electricity bills for a long time. This also drives up the price in northern Sweden.

It appears that the government has made things very difficult for itself. It almost appears as some form of self-harming behavior that they have so unprepared pushed through that an electricity subsidy should be in place on November 1. Now we have four different forms of electricity subsidies jumping around, and nothing is ready and nothing has been sent out yet. Furthermore, the baker in Vilhelmina and the person who runs the car workshop in Norsjö still do not have the slightest idea if they are going to receive any support at all.

Is it fair? It is clearly not fair. I think that is something one must carry with oneself. What is happening in our global environment is one thing. We can probably all say that we have been unprepared for it, and we should have been able to do better. But it is here and now that these people need support.

Our proposal for an electricity bill emergency could have saved Maria, who is a pensioner and has a variable electricity contract. She has managed on that, because for a long time it has been the best, with low prices. Gradually, the prices began to go up during 2021 and 2022, and the electricity to live in the villa now costs 12,000-13,000 of the pensioner's salary. In large part, the entire pension goes to paying for the electricity. It is here and now.

We have had a rather mild January, which we should be grateful for, and the prices may have backed off. But for northern Sweden, it is not uncommon to have many minus degrees well into April, even into May. The government needs to keep that in mind.

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Malin Larsson (S)

Mr. Speaker! I also want to begin by thanking the Minister for the answer. But I want to point out that it comes far too late. I submitted this both important and urgent interpellation on December 2nd. The answer is only coming now.

The part of the country that first became completely without electricity support from the government, where electricity price areas 1 and 2 are located, constitutes 62 percent of the country's area. I live in that part of the country myself. Many of us are now extremely disappointed and furious. Pensioners, families with children, bakery owners and sawmill owners are all in agreement; they need support now.

In November and December, we had just as high electricity prices in the northern parts of the country as one had in the southern parts. In addition to that, we have both colder and longer winters. That means significantly more energy is consumed by both households, companies, and associations. Last weekend, when a colleague could sit and drink their morning coffee with a green lawn in front of their feet, I simultaneously had minus 22 degrees. And that is while I only live in the southern parts of Norrland.

Furthermore, we have generally higher municipal tax, higher costs for transport, and higher grid fees. There is a difference of several thousand kronor in grid fees, and it is we in the north who have the highest fees. Over five years, Kramfors in Västernorrland has had the largest price increases in the country. Most often, there is also only one grid provider.

For some reason, the government judged that northern Sweden did not have the same need for a cost protection against the exceptional energy prices. After pressure, they have now changed their minds a few times and announced that we in the north will also receive electricity support. But it does not apply to everyone, only to households. Once again, the northern parts of the country are being let down, and companies and associations in the north are being left in the lurch.

To me, the government's assessment appears both very strange and unfair when one arrives at the conclusion that companies, other than the large electricity-intensive companies, and associations in the north shall not be entitled to the electricity support. The electricity price is now distorting the competition between the companies in the country.

Why does the government not look at the whole country? The list of facts, arguments, and justifications for why the northern parts should also be fully and completely covered by the electricity support can be long. While the people in the southern parts of the country who can afford to live in castle-like buildings with heated pools will receive tens of thousands of kronor, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of kronor, in electricity support, our small businesses and associations in the north do not get a single penny. It clearly shows that the supports do not go to those who need them most - our families with children and pensioners who now cannot afford to pay the electricity bills and our companies in the north that are actually on the brink of bankruptcy.

Why does the government continue with this injustice and divide the country into two, those who receive support and those who have to manage on their own?

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Jim Svensk Larm (S)

Mr. Speaker! I would like to begin by thanking the Minister for Energy and Business Ebba Busch for the answer. I would also like to extend a big thank you to the three interpellants, who raise the issue and make it possible to debate it.

High electricity prices worry all of Sweden. Both households and companies are turning and twisting every krona to manage to pay their electricity bills. The high electricity prices mean that companies will have a difficult time ahead.

Sweden is an elongated country with varying climates. It is in northern Sweden where the lead has been taken when it comes to the green transition. Companies are making large investments to take Sweden through the transition and to continue to stay at the forefront.

Despite the fact that more electricity is produced in northern Sweden than is used, electricity prices have been high during the winter. The high electricity prices have caused concern for the future for both companies and households. To then do as the government does and exclude more than half of Sweden from support feels strange. But it is still typical for the government we have, which completely lacks cabinet ministers from the northern part of Sweden.

In my county, Gävleborg, the issue is special. The southern parts of the county are in electricity area 3 and are eligible for the support, while a larger part of the county is not to receive any support, even though there are high prices in the entire county. A household in southern Gävleborg can have an electricity bill as high as a household in northern Gävleborg, but only the household in southern Gävleborg is to receive the government's support. Until recently, the government thought that it should be so.

Mr. Speaker! During the election campaign, the Minister for Energy and Industry promised electricity bills of 4,000-5,000 SEK at Christmas. A blue Christmas, she called it. We will never know what color Minister for Energy and Industry Ebba Busch got on her Christmas. It is to be kept secret, after all. But I have seen few who have written about their low electricity bills. Instead, I have seen many who have written about their high electricity bills, and they come from all over the country.

The government's handling of today's electricity prices and the crisis they entail is worrying. They consistently say no to the proposals that we Social Democrats deliver. An electricity bill emergency would ease the situation for Swedish households across the whole of Sweden and mean a fair electricity support for the whole of Sweden. As the icing on the cake, they want to keep secret who gets to receive the support.

It is not strange that one begins to wonder what the government has against northern Sweden. It would have been much simpler to introduce a support from the beginning that applies to all of Sweden. They are simply making it much more difficult than it needs to be.

My question to the Minister for Energy and Business is therefore: Why not do the right thing from the beginning and provide support to all of Sweden?

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Patrik Björck (S)

Mr. Speaker! The frustration and anger witnessed from the rostrum today is due to many things. It is due to the discrimination of rural areas, it is due to the enormous breach of promise, and it is due to the procrastination over time. It is due to the fact that the government gets nothing done, and it is due to the fact that the government also blames its paralysis for action on others.

That the government does not take responsibility is consistent, and perhaps the primary representative of that part of the government's policy is Energy Minister Ebba Busch. She promised things that have not been implemented. It is clear that people are becoming frustrated.

Mr. Speaker! This government will probably never introduce any high-cost protection. That it did not happen on November 1 last year is obvious, since that date has passed. It is impossible. Nothing indicates either that the government will fulfill its promise on November 1, 2023, 2024, or 2025. By November 1, 2026, we will hopefully have changed the energy minister.

The breach of promise is the absolute most important building block in this frustration. The Minister for Energy is trying to get away with it by blaming the previous government. That one blames their election promises on a previous government is very strange.

Mr. Speaker! On September 2, nine days before the election, the Minister for Energy's chief Ulf Kristersson said: "If we win the election and Sweden gets a new government, we will ensure that the high-cost protection for households and companies against the extreme electricity prices is in place on November 1. The households' finances shall be saved well before Christmas. It is a joint election promise."

On the same day, the Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, who is also the head of the Energy Minister, said that he had spoken with the three party leaders on his side – Jimmie Åkesson, Ebba Busch, and Johan Pehrson – and that they were in agreement. Such a flagrant breach of promise to the voters is probably, together with other betrayals, a contributing cause to why we have an inefficient and paralyzed government with an Energy Minister completely lacking in energy.

It is not just that the Minister for Energy is not delivering on his promises. Furthermore, the Minister for Energy takes two months to report here in the chamber and stand to account, despite it being stated clearly and explicitly in the Riksdag's rules of procedure that it should take two weeks. It is therefore not only a lack of respect towards the voters but also a lack of respect towards the Riksdag. That, Mr. Speaker, is something the Speaker's Presidium should reflect upon.

(Applause)

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Today we are debating twelve interpellations. I would have liked to do it repeatedly. If I could wish for order, I would like to have a fixed time in the Riksdag. For me, it is important to show respect for the elected representatives – those whom the Swedish people have voted in – and that there is an opportunity to ask a question that is current and quickly receive an answer. Therefore, I want to turn to, among others, Malin Larsson and say that I truly regret that I have not had the opportunity to have the discussion and provide these answers earlier.

I have pointed out on several occasions that this matter of the truth is important to me. The fact that someone tries to claim that something was said that was never said does not make it any truer. For those who are listening to this debate but who have not heard previous exchanges, I would like to once again emphasize what I have said in many interviews regarding when it would be possible for the Swedish people to get money in their accounts. In several interviews, and also on our website, it states clearly and distinctly that it is not realistic for electricity customers to get money in their accounts before Christmas, with reference to the fact that it can only be decided what each household should receive in compensation in retrospect, when price and consumption are known.

I will not always be comfortable, and people will not always agree with me – but I will try to do my utmost to respond, be transparent and straightforward. That is why I have also been clear about why we have changed the model from a high-cost protection to an electricity support. I wish that we can have this type of straightforward dialogue between elected representatives and those in power, and also directly with those we are tasked to take responsibility for, namely the Swedish people, and navigate out of this difficult situation.

It is a naive policy that has led us to this difficult and vulnerable situation. It was some member, Mr. Speaker, who suggested that it had not been possible to predict this situation. Yes! The invasion of Crimea already occurred in 2014 and should have been a brutal wake-up call for Sweden and led to a reorganization of the security policy and a further rapprochement with Nato. But it took a full-scale war of invasion in Ukraine for the Social Democrats to rethink.

Time and again, we in this chamber have voted on Ringhals 1 and 2. Most recently in 2020, a vote was held to save Ringhals 1 and 2. The Social Democrats voted against preservation, and when the decision went through and an additional two nuclear reactors were closed, applause was given in this chamber.

One is very welcome to criticize the pace of delivery and the pace of responses to interpellations, but one needs to see that one has oneself been part of Sweden being in such a vulnerable position. It is not possible to fully compensate in hindsight with an electricity support for a partially dismantled electricity system. We must now build it up together.

My question is whether you are prepared to support proposals to remove the ban on nuclear power in more places than those that exist today and to remove the quantity ceiling. Are you prepared to lower the reduction obligation, or do you want it to continue to be so high, which hits northern Sweden much harder than other parts of the country? Are you prepared to say that southern Sweden must manage its own electricity production and stop stealing the emission-free and relatively cheap electricity from northern Sweden? Are you prepared to support that reorganization? For that is what northern Sweden needs in the long term. Otherwise, all parts of the country are treated equally. If the price is over 75 öre per kilowatt-hour, one is entitled to support, and that is now included in both electricity support one and two.

(Applause)

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Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S)

Mr. Speaker! During the election campaign, Ebba Busch returned many times to letters from voters where it said "please, do something!" when it came to the high electricity prices. It was powerful. Electricity prices have been an important issue for a long time. I can only imagine what the letters to Minister Busch look like today.

To be honest - all the conditions surrounding the energy supply and the needs that exist today were fundamentally clear already during the election campaign. The same applied when the Minister announced that no support would be paid out to Norrland and dismissed our Social Democratic demand that the electricity price support should cover the entire country. The price structure had already changed. Electricity price zones 1 and 2 struggled with the same increases as the rest of the country.

The government stood at a press conference at the Government Offices in the beginning of December and dismissed Norrland. They then showed bar charts showing how the prices would end up above the 75 öre specified as the reference price to receive support in southern Sweden. At that moment, the government betrayed northern Sweden. For far too long, they have clung to that line and stance, which means they have lost time and have not done the work they needed to do. Norrbotnians and Norrlandians must now pay for it with continued uncertainty, anxiety, and despair. It is here and now that the electricity bills are to be paid, not at some point during the spring. I find it fascinating that the government parties have said no to our proposal for an electricity bill emergency.

I would also like the Minister to address the question of whether she means that the person who perceived the message from Ulf Kristersson and the other parties as a clear promise completely misunderstood. I believe few people who listened to the political debate, took part in the massive advertising on social media, and listened to the party leaders' speeches in various debates perceived that the high-cost protection, which was supposed to be in place on November 1, was a commitment and that it was a clear message that a decision had been intended to be made before then. It does not pay any bills during this winter. Is it not the truth that the Prime Minister and the Minister lied to the Swedish people straight to their faces and have then been forced to play "pass the buck" with each other because no one wants to take responsibility in this situation, when people are on their knees under triple or even quadruple electricity bill levels?

My specific questions, which I hope to receive answers to, are: When can my neighbors expect this government to protect people and companies in northern Sweden from the brink of ruin? When will the payments arrive?

(Applause)

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Isak From (S)

Mr. Speaker! Minister for Enterprise! There are standing times for interpellation debates in the Riksdag on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and often Fridays. We will probably discuss here more often, perhaps every week. We shall see.

Mr. Speaker! It is actually possible to compensate those who are most vulnerable. It is a matter of political will. Shall we support the pensioners who are now using all their money to pay the electricity bills, regardless of where in the country they live, or shall we support those who have the largest wallets and who will probably also receive a large tax cut? If one comes from southern Sweden, perhaps one will receive a fairly large refund in February, and that is good. But it remains the case that the government has made it completely incomprehensibly difficult for itself. There are four different proposals jumping around. It becomes completely impossible for everyone following this to understand what was actually intended.

When it comes to the EU's and Sweden's competition rules, it is reasonable that companies in the same industry but on different sides of the support map should have the same conditions. When bakeries compete with bakeries in completely different parts of the country and one suddenly receives support while the other does not, it becomes completely unreasonable. I believe that the vast majority can agree on that.

Then the Minister for Enterprise falls into a bit of a nuclear power debate and discusses what it would have been like if we had not decommissioned nuclear power. But it is very clearly stated that Ringhals 1 and 2 were shut down by Vattenfall's board in 2015 because the reactors were then considered expensive and unprofitable.

It is just as clear that representatives for parties in the government base, namely SD and the Moderates – perhaps not to such a great extent the Minister for Enterprise's party comrades – consistently and repeatedly say no to wind power. Moderate municipal councilors in southern Sweden say no to the offshore wind power that could quite quickly improve the conditions for industry and households in southern Sweden. They have said no for a very long time: Not in my backyard, not here! Wind power might be good, but preferably somewhere else – perhaps in Norrland? They have large areas there, after all.

Yes, we have built quite large wind farms. But it might perhaps be better and more logical if more municipal representatives stood up for their citizens and said that we need to make this investment in our power grid. It is also they who should have seen the approaching crisis. It is quite a few who have been blind to the global factors.

Now we stand here, and it is our mission to prioritize the most vulnerable. For me, it is obvious that it is the pensioner who is now paying their entire pension in electricity bills who should receive the support.

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Malin Larsson (S)

Mr. Speaker! That the Minister could not come to the chamber for this debate until today is something the Minister himself has decided. I raised objections and tried to get an earlier time, but it was not possible.

On Thursday, the government would have been in power for 100 days. These first 100 days have been marked by broken election promises and a wriggling like slippery eels regarding what was and was not promised. One thing was said and another was done. 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, 2022. Households and companies were promised compensation well before Christmas. What became of this then? Well, instead it became an electricity price subsidy that was to start being paid out on February 20, but only to households in the southern parts of the country.

We Social Democrats have constantly pushed for the electricity support to go to the whole country, and it is good that the government has now been forced to back down. But this announcement does not pay any bills now in January and February, and our Norrland companies receive no support from the right-led government. The government has changed its mind a number of times, and as recently as yesterday, they changed their minds again. The support for November and December will now go to all households in the country. But we still do not know when the supports can be paid out and how much they will be. At the same time, with this, the bills are piling up for many. Furthermore, it has shown that it can become a problem for the companies, as companies that rent their premises risk being left without electricity support. A limited support will instead go to their landlords, even though they are not the ones who have paid the electricity bills.

The government and the Sweden Democrats said no in December to our committee initiative for electricity support for households and companies even in the north. They have also said no to our proposal to introduce an electricity bill emergency that would make it possible to pay their electricity bills in installments until the electricity support is in place. Now it is families with children, pensioners, companies and associations who alone have to take the hit for the government's broken election promises.

Instead of working to get the electricity support in place, the right-wing government has worked very quickly, perhaps too quickly, to keep secret who receives a share of the support and how much money each person receives in electricity support. I think this is a very strange prioritization. Furthermore, the government is missing several hundred million kronor in tax revenue; there was an opportunity to introduce a revenue cap for the electricity companies' excess profits already in December. But then the work of keeping the support secret was prioritized, so that the public and journalists now cannot scrutinize who receives a share of it. One can wonder how the government prioritizes and what it is that they want to hide. Why do they want to obscure who receives support and how much each person receives in support?

Mr. Speaker! I want to once again highlight the situation for our companies in the north. Many of our entrepreneurs are having an extremely tough time now, and many testify that they are close to bankruptcy. We in the north are in the middle of the cold winter, even though one cannot believe it on such a day in Stockholm, when the sun is shining and spring is knocking at the door. The situation, the climate, and the conditions are different in the north, and that must be realized.

Therefore, I want to ask the Minister: When will all companies and associations in our northern parts of the country also be included in the electricity support?

(Applause)

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Jim Svensk Larm (S)

Mr. Speaker! During the election campaign, an election promise was made that few have missed. On November 1, a high-cost protection was to be in place well before Christmas. But after the government had received the keys to Rosenbad, not much happened.

It has made one wonder why it has taken so long. At the beginning of January, it hit me. That was when the government released its Spotify playlist with the songs that are to take Sweden into the EU presidency. I often listen to music when I work, and music provides inspiration. But it really matters to have the right kind of music to get that inspiration.

I believe that one of the songs has been played on repeat too much at the Ministry of Enterprise, and unfortunately, it has affected their work. The song that makes me think unintentionally about the government's work with the high-cost protection is the third song on the Spotify list, "Det L öser S ej med Timbuktu."

Mr. Speaker! I will not attempt to perform it musically. But I would like to read out part of the first verse, which I believe characterizes the government's work in this matter.

Once again we face the same old problems as usual. The immeasurably large, and the tiny ones. And I know as usual how we are to solve them or get over them, these things that stand between us and total happiness. But. what I believe is that if we ignore it and don't do a damn thing, then time will probably solve the whole thing, because time has such a magical effect on us. Mañana mañana. or manana manana as we say. Put it off, put it off. Put it off.

This text has probably gone around the Ministry of Enterprise, because we received no high-cost protection by November 1st.

My question to the Minister for Energy and Business is: Is it possible to live up to the government's promises?

(Applause)

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Patrik Björck (S)

Mr. Speaker! The reason why these questions come again and again is that the Minister for Energy is constantly spreading falsehoods. The policy that the Minister for Energy and the government stand for is not the policy that one is elected on. That is what is so important.

One can, of course, always discuss technology, politics, different proposals, or different opinions. But to run for election on one thing and do something completely different after the election is the main problem with the government.

Mr. Speaker! My question to the Minister for Energy is: Does the Minister for Energy consider that she and the government have been very clear that they will not introduce a high-cost protection and that they were so before the election?

The Minister for Energy returns several times to the point that she has been very clear about what she is doing. Possibly she has been clear, but perhaps not very clear, that she does not intend to fulfill her election promises after the election.

Mr. Speaker! The problem is whether the Minister for Energy in this rostrum today can tell us and the Swedish people: Before the election, I was very clear about, and my colleagues in the government base were very clear about, that we did not intend to deliver any high-cost protection.

I would like to hear the Minister for Energy deliver it from the rostrum here in the Riksdag to those of us who are here and to the Swedish people. Then I will take it home to my constituency and tell it. In that case, no one will recognize it. I am waiting.

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Mr. Speaker!

It is well to have kids but now it is a bit stupid And the gynecologist says that there are risks And psychological aspects that weigh down Well, it's easy to be wise after the fact Is it to be a new life because we had sex together? I mean, I can't even plan a day ahead Such a responsibility requires a complete man And that is far from me and hardly you Something to regret one day, no beautiful end A quick decision or you are not sure Just another wound that maybe time will heal

It is the rest of the Timbuktu song, which is one of my favorite songs. It took me through high school. Those who want to can google and see when I slaughter this song in "Så ska det låta" many years ago when I was pregnant. But that is where the fun ends. It is about being wise in hindsight. Now we stand here, and it is the hindsight that we hear just now in post after post.

It is incredibly important to be careful with words. In the mandate given by the previous government and which we took over, it states very clearly that one must consider that the electricity price is geographically conditioned in such a way that the emergency measures primarily affect consumers and companies in southern Sweden.

It concerns precisely this—that it is geographically conditioned how severely one has been affected. No one has ruled out any part of the country. This is a government so that the whole country shall live. It shall be possible to live and operate regardless of where in the country one is.

That is why we have set a reference price of 75 öre. It is the same for the whole country. We will post it on Twitter for those of you listening to this debate so that you can see how the price has been during this period of the year.

There are very few times when the price has gone over 75 öre. That is why it was not included in the first round. It is not a matter of any part of this country having been opted out.

That is why northern Sweden will also be reached by the second round of electricity support. In November and December, the reference price has exceeded 75 öre.

It is tough to live and reside in areas that are further away from emergency hospitals, work, and from dropping off and picking up children to and from school.

Therefore, I hope that those on the other side can imagine reconsidering from the Social Democrats and others. This concerns the view on the reduction obligation. Otherwise, it will continue to lash child families and entrepreneurs in northern Sweden.

It is a matter of seeing that the electricity support going to electricity-intensive companies in much larger proportions compared to employment and how many people live there will go to precisely northern Sweden and will go much more accurately to precisely the northern parts.

It is also a matter of seeing that what we are doing now is a way to try to compensate in retrospect for the dismantling of fully functioning nuclear power in four reactors and that two nuclear reactors were stopped by pausing the planning for 2012. It affects northern Sweden to a much greater extent than the south. One gets one's relatively cheap and emission-free electricity transported from northern Sweden down to the south.

We are now changing that policy. We are putting a stop to the reverse Robin Hood policy. I hope for support for this moving forward. But we cannot use this as a crisis intervention regulation in the EU. It is not legal to use those funds in that way, actually, as a redistributive policy measure.

We do other things. It is about lowering the reduction obligation, paving the way for more electricity production in southern Sweden and changing the travel deduction for those who have extra long distances to work and other things. That is what we do to handle other parts of this.

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Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S)

Mr. Speaker! For people and entrepreneurs, it is serious here and now. No clever messages, press conferences, or attempts to blame others help. It is here and now that the electricity bills must be paid. Many are reaching out in pure desperation. The number of cases at the Enforcement Authority is increasing, and the bankruptcies are starting to come.

At the same time, you have voted no to our electricity bill emergency. You have also said no to temporary increases of the child allowance. Instead, you have allocated 13 billion to reduced tax for high-income earners and are putting effort into making the electricity price support confidential the day it arrives.

I had a naive hope when I submitted the interpellation that the government would be able to say as early as December: We were wrong. We are rethinking. We will ensure a model that covers the entire country from the very beginning, where there is never any discussion about geography but where one starts from the reference price.

But since we are now at the threshold of February, and since November 1st apparently becomes February 20th for some when it comes to the electricity price support, I would still like the Minister, in his final contribution, to announce and tell if it is possible to say anything more specific about how long the spring will be for a Norrbotnian or a Norrlänning. When will the electricity price support arrive?

As a conclusion, I might add: Add Hooja to the list!

Is it going well? Or is it going as usual? They ask, though they already know the answer. Well, it's constant struggles now. And the weather doesn't look so good.

(Applause)

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Isak From (S)

Mr. Speaker and the Minister for Enterprise! I hope and I believe that many with me - pensioners, families with children and others - hope that it will be a nice Easter. We hope that perhaps an electricity subsidy will come that one can use during one's Easter holiday with the kids.

I believe it would be welcomed if the Minister for Enterprise, in his final speech, also presents an idea and a proposal for when the bakery in Vilhelmina or the car workshop in Norsjö can expect an electricity price subsidy. This concerns all the artisans that we around the country are so dependent on. Their business must be viable so that all of us others can have a bearable livelihood.

I believe it is this that will remain in the memory. How was it now? Who were those who received this? We naturally hope that this is of a transitory nature, but just as the Minister for Enterprise has pointed out, extensive investments will be needed in the future. This concerns, above all, new power production in southern Sweden.

Northern Sweden will, in all likelihood, if all the planned investments on the table are carried out, need energy and electricity in large quantities. It creates jobs and faith in the future, it meets the climate challenges, and it puts food on the table for many more. That is how it must be if we are to have a livable planet to live on. We look forward to both the final report and real delivery.

(Applause)

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Malin Larsson (S)

Mr. Speaker! I am listening to what the Minister says, but I actually do not think we are getting answers to our questions in a satisfactory way. The Minister also somewhat absolves himself from responsibility.

Now it is time for the government to take responsibility for the whole country and make fair decisions. Look at the whole picture! If one only talks about the electricity price, it is easy to see. But if one looks at what the total electricity bill amounts to for the people, one sees that households in the north many times pay higher costs than those in the south. There must be some justice!

Up in the north, our citizens are rightly furious. We in the north have for decades taken responsibility for ensuring that Sweden has a good energy supply. We expanded hydropower, and now we are expanding wind power. Then we should also be treated fairly; that is what it is about.

The need for energy will increase, and we know that energy availability plays a crucial role in the future and for the green transition. Here, we Social Democrats want to invest in what gives the fastest effect, and that is offshore wind power. On the government's table are now several large projects with offshore wind power that are ready for a decision. I truly hope that the government is also ready to make decisions. It is about both jobs and investments.

Here in Sundsvall, we are expectant regarding the plans for offshore wind power off our Norrland coast, because we want more jobs, more green jobs and more investments.

I have an appeal now at the end: See to it that the households in the north receive the electricity subsidies and that our companies in northern Sweden receive the support they need! In these difficult times, we need politicians to do everything we can to support Swedish households and companies.

(Applause)

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I want to once again emphasize the question of the design of the electricity support in both round one and in round two. It is therefore not based on whether one is from Norrbotten, Skåne, or Värmland, but rather it is based on whether one has had prices that have been above 75 öre in spot price or not. If one has had that, one gets access to the electricity support, and if one has not had that, one does not get it.

In the first round, for which payments will now begin on February 20, it has been decided that those living in electricity areas 3 and 4 will receive a share of this. The electricity support that will be paid out during the spring will reach all four areas, as in November and December all parts of the country had electricity prices that were above this level.

I will answer the question directly, as I believe it is important that I can answer directly: I cannot set a date. We are working as fast as possible on this. I share the view that this cannot go fast enough. There are other parts of the opposition that, on the contrary, have reported to the Committee on the Constitution that they think it has gone too fast. But here we have chosen to let it weigh heavily that the Swedish people are in desperate need of the support as soon as possible.

We have also chosen not to go on an electricity bill emergency given that the industry strongly advised against this. We assess that such will be able to be in place only after the electricity support has been paid out.

This is not perfect; I want to emphasize that. It is based on a special regulation from the EU that enables us to use the funds in this way. That makes it a bit of a straitjacket, and we cannot do exactly as we want – especially since we want it to go fast. But this is significantly larger than a maximum of 2,000 kronor times three months. A normal-sized villa can get up to 16,000 kronor. It will be a relief, but not full compensation. Now the long road begins to build up the energy system strong again.

(Applause)

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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