The left-wing party rages against electricity network prices: “Makabert”

Dadgostar wants to introduce a new tax for the electricity grid companies

Despite a bill, the electricity grid companies will be able to make surplus profits for three more years.

That makes Nooshi Dadgostar (V) furious – now she wants to see a new treasure.

– These are completely catastrophic price increases, she thunders.

Electricity grid charges are skyrocketing. The companies’ financial ceiling has recently been raised, which enables them to charge a higher fee than before.

Aftonbladet has previously reported on the matter, and the responsible authority Energimarknadsinspektionen (Ei) – which has decided on the increase – has expressed its desperation at how the law is written.

– The power grid companies have the right to raise their charges as long as their revenues stay below the maximum ceiling. But we judge that the current legislation and calculation method means that the maximum ceiling will be too high. This means that the companies can charge higher electricity grid fees from their customers than is reasonable. It shouldn’t be like that, Tommy Johansson, head of department at Ei, previously told Aftonbladet.

But the law is about to change, which Tommy Johansson and the authority welcome. However, a change can only take place in 2027, regardless of how the bill turns out. This is because the new ceiling applies during the period 2024–2027 – which cannot be changed.

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The V leader rages

Västerpartiet’s party leader Nooshi Dadgostar also welcomes a change in the law. Because something has to change, as she puts it.

– We know that the price increases that have been up until now have led to huge dividends from the owners. These are activities where the private companies take out a lot of the money and it is the households who have to pay for it. As it works today, the authority cannot do anything about this even if they have tried.

The V leader calls the price increases that are now hitting Swedish households “catastrophic”.

– During the last 15-year period, the electricity grid companies have made enormous excess profits, far above the general price increase, says Nooshi Dadgostar.

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“Macabre”

She continues:

– It will affect households that are already weighed down by high interest rates and high food prices. So what is happening now is macabre.

In order to bring about a change – before 2027 – the Left Party proposes that all excess profits made by the electricity grid companies should be taxed. The proposal is a temporary tax until a possible change in the law can be used.

– Then there will be no point for the companies to withdraw excess profits and then we will protect the households. It is entirely possible for the government to implement it. Since the responsible authority cannot stop it, the government can do so by imposing a tax on the operating profit above today’s rate and price.

Often companies use their profits to reinvest in the company. How can you guarantee that the green transition and expansion of the electricity grid will not suffer with your proposal?

– If the electricity network companies want to make investments in a current network or network expansion, then they must get an exception from this to use the money for just that. But until now the power grid companies have taken out so much in pure stock dividends of what they have received that we cannot see them using the money they receive for new power grid investments that we have a great need for. They have distributed enormously large shares of what they have received from households as pure share dividends in the previous years. We cannot see that they will change their behavior going forward either, says Nooshi Dadgostar.