Electricity price issues

The plan explains the high electricity prices by the privatizations and wants to solve them through a public takeover of the electricity grid, not by pointing to climate policy as the price driver. The plan instead demands that the transformation occurs immediately and that all political decisions take into account the acute climate crisis. The counter-proposal's premise that climate policy should be weighed against electricity prices and competitiveness is therefore rejected.

• privatization causes high electricitydecisive»Privatiseringar har lett till dyrare elpris, att apoteken flyttar från landsbygd till städer och från fattiga till rika områden, att du har olika tillgång till vård, skola och omsorg beroende på var du bor, att det gått inflation i betygen och till en allt sämre kvalitet på service och välfärd.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Privatizations have led to higher electricity prices, that pharmacies move from countryside to cities and from poor to rich areas, that you have different access to healthcare, school and care depending on where you live, that grades have undergone inflation and to ever lower quality in service and welfare.”
• the transformation cannot be braked»Omställningen behöver ske omgående och alla politiska beslut behöver ta hänsyn till den akuta kris som vi befinner oss i.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The transformation needs to happen immediately and all political decisions need to take into account the acute crisis we are in.”
• public electricity grid lowers charges»Det offentliga ska ta över ansvaret för elnätet, vilket kommer leda till minskade avgifter för hushållen.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The public shall take over responsibility for the electricity grid, which will lead to reduced charges for households.”
• demands and support to industry»Politiken kan och måste ställa krav på att industrin ställer om och hjälpa företagen med ett massivt grönt investeringsprogram och satsningar på ny teknik« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Policy can and must demand that industry transforms and help companies with a massive green investment programme and investments in new technology”

Worldstate weighed in: The electricity price in SE3 is about 0.7 SEK/kWh in April 2023 — The counter-proposal's premise about acute price pressure is weak and does not justify lower climate ambitions; Inflation is 10.6 percent and pressures household finances — Strengthens the plan's demands for public electricity grid and lowered charges for households

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan states that high electricity prices are hitting households and creating difficulties for industry, and wants to push prices down through rapid expansion of electricity production. That electricity prices' effect on industry's competitiveness is given more attention thus lies in the plan's direction, as does concern that emissions-intensive production relocates to where climate policy is weaker, which the plan meets with a global carbon price. The plan simultaneously holds fast to the climate policy framework.

• lower electricity prices through expansiondecisive»Minska trycket på elpriserna genom en snabbt utbyggd elproduktion.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Reduce pressure on electricity prices through rapidly expanded electricity production.”
• electricity prices threaten industry»De höga elpriserna slår mot människors plånböcker och skapar svårigheter för industrin.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“High electricity prices are hitting people's wallets and creating difficulties for industry.”
• global carbon price against leakage»Vi ska verka för att ett globalt koldioxidpris införs med principen att förorenaren betalar.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We shall work for a global carbon price to be introduced with the principle that the polluter pays.”
• climate policy framework»Det klimatpolitiska ramverket ska ligga fast.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The climate policy framework shall hold firm.”

Worldstate weighed in: Inflation at 10.6 per cent per annum and continued high energy prices — activates the plan's readiness to undertake further measures if prices remain high; Business confidence barometer at 90.8 and weak GDP development — sharpens the plan's concern for industry's competitiveness

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The counter-proposal is based on climate policy driving up electricity prices and that this should receive more attention. The plan is based on the opposite: solar and wind are the cheapest and fastest ways to expand electricity production, and the risk of production moving outside the EU is met with climate tariffs and higher carbon allowance prices, not with lower climate ambition. The demand is therefore rejected on the merits.

• renewables provide cheap electricitydecisive»Solenergi och vindkraft är idag de överlägset billigaste, snabbaste och säkraste sätten att bygga ut vår energiproduktion.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Solar energy and wind power are today by far the cheapest, fastest and safest ways to expand our energy production.”
• climate tariffs against carbon leakage»höja priset på utsläppsrätter i EU, inkludera utsläpp från flyg och sjöfart i systemet och införa klimattullar på varor från länder utanför EU.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“raise the price of carbon allowances in the EU, include emissions from aviation and shipping in the system and introduce climate tariffs on goods from countries outside the EU.”
• energy efficiency reduces costs»införa ett kraftfullt stöd för energieffektivisering till både hushåll och industrier.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“introduce strong support for energy efficiency for both households and industries.”
• powerful climate policy instruments»Kraftfulla ekonomiska styrmedel är nödvändiga.« (party programme ↗)“Powerful economic policy instruments are necessary.”

The election manifesto requires that growth and ambitious climate work go hand in hand and that effective measures are prioritized over symbolic politics. That high electricity prices impact industrial competitiveness and risk moving emissions to countries with poorer climate policy follows from the same reasoning the plan uses about imports from countries with larger carbon footprint. The plan's answer is more emission-free electricity and expanded electricity grid, not lower climate ambitions.

• growth and climate hand in handdecisive»Ekonomisk tillväxt och ett ambitiöst miljö- och klimatarbete måste i praktiken gå hand i hand, och med rätt politiska reformer går det att skapa jobb, öka välståndet och samtidigt sänka utsläppen.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Economic growth and ambitious environmental and climate work must in practice go hand in hand, and with the right political reforms it is possible to create jobs, increase prosperity and at the same time reduce emissions.”
• effective measures over symbolic politics»Ett ledarskap som prioriterar effektiva åtgärder framför symbolpolitik eller passivitet.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Leadership that prioritizes effective measures over symbolic politics or passivity.”
• doubled emission-free electricity»Vi vill fördubbla produktionen av utsläppsfri el, och rusta och bygga ut elnätet.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We want to double the production of emission-free electricity and outfit and expand the electricity grid.”
• avoid displaced emissions»Det är bättre att Sverige tar ansvar och utvinner mer mineral och metaller istället för att fortsätta importera dem från länder med större klimatavtryck och sämre arbetsvillkor.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“It is better that Sweden takes responsibility and extracts more minerals and metals instead of continuing to import them from countries with larger carbon footprint and worse working conditions.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The election manifesto states that red-green energy policy has both made living more expensive and increased costs for and delayed climate transition, and demands a climate policy measured in reduced emissions rather than raised taxes. The counter-proposal's demand that the negative impact of electricity prices on climate policy and industrial competitiveness be given more attention is thus the plan's own analysis. The plan also wishes to meet emissions leakage with European climate tariffs.

• high electricity prices damage transitiondecisive»Det innebär inte bara att den rödgröna energipolitiken gjort det dyrare att bo och leva – utan det har också fördyrat och försenat klimatomställningen.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“This means not only that red-green energy policy has made living more expensive—but it has also increased costs for and delayed climate transition.”
• lower electricity prices for industry»Rödgrön energipolitik har lett till mångdubblade elpriser för svenska hushåll och industrier.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Red-green energy policy has led to many-fold electricity prices for Swedish households and industries.”
• climate tariffs against leakage»Det behövs en europeisk koldioxidskatt och klimattullar« (2022 manifesto ↗)“There is a need for a European carbon tax and climate tariffs”
• protect competitiveness»Höjningar av miljöskatter och slopade subventioner ska kompenseras med skattesänkningar« (party programme ↗)“Increases in environmental taxes and removed subsidies shall be compensated with tax cuts”

The stance rests on the quoted commitment in the party's own documents; the actual vote deviated. Click the quote to verify it in the document.

The plan's goal is an energy system without drastic price changes and electricity shortages, and it requires that energy taxes and regulations be shaped with regard to global conditions so that business competitiveness is not eroded. The counter-proposal's requirement that negative electricity price impacts be more highlighted, and the risk that production moves to countries with less ambitious climate policy, hit precisely these commitments. The election manifesto's nuclear power push is the party's answer to the same problem.

• energy system without price shocksdecisive»drastiska prisförändringar, elbrist eller andra betydande« (party programme ↗)“drastic price changes, electricity shortages or other significant”
• protect business competitiveness»hänsyn till förhållanden i omvärlden för att inte näringslivets konkurrenskraft ska urholkas.« (party programme ↗)“regard to conditions in the surrounding world so that business competitiveness is not eroded.”
• pillars of energy policy»vara miljömässig hållbarhet, försörjningstrygghet och« (party programme ↗)“be environmental sustainability, supply security and”
• expanded nuclear power»Satsa på kärnkraften med långsiktiga villkor att utvecklas. Förläng befintliga reaktorers drift och bygg ut med nya reaktorer.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Invest in nuclear power with long-term conditions to develop. Extend existing reactors' operation and expand with new reactors.”

Worldstate weighed in: Germany shuts down its three last nuclear reactors — reduces dispatchable electricity production in the surrounding region and heightens the plan's requirement for supply security; Inflation 10.6 percent year-on-year — makes electricity price impacts on households and industry more acute

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The election manifesto's energy section builds on precisely the counter-proposal's thesis: without clean and stable electricity at reasonable price there will be no climate transition, and the phase-out of nuclear power has driven up prices and threatens the transition. The plan also points out that the closure of Ringhals increases emissions in the EU, that is to say that expensive electricity moves emissions rather than reduces them. Electricity prices' negative climate policy effects are thus the plan's own line.

• cheap electricity required for transitiondecisive»Utan ren och stabil el till rimligt pris blir det ingen klimatomställning.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Without clean and stable electricity at reasonable price there will be no climate transition.”
• high electricity prices threaten climate policy»Den pågående avvecklingen av kärnkraften har lett till skenande elpriser och hotar den gröna omställningen.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The ongoing phase-out of nuclear power has led to soaring electricity prices and threatens the green transition.”
• emissions move with expensive electricity»Regeringens stängning av Ringhals 1 och 2 leder till att utsläppen i EU ökar med 8 miljoner ton.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The government's closure of Ringhals 1 and 2 leads to emissions in the EU increasing by 8 million tons.”
• effective, not symbolic climate policy»Klimatpolitiken får aldrig reduceras till dyrbar symbolpolitik eller snäv klimatnationalism.« (party programme ↗)“Climate policy must never be reduced to expensive symbolic politics or narrow climate nationalism.”

The stance rests on the quoted commitment in the party's own documents; the actual vote deviated. Click the quote to verify it in the document.

The plan explicitly states that a climate policy that deviates significantly from the rest of the world damages competitiveness and can move production to countries with higher emissions, and that higher electricity prices do not reduce global emissions. The counter-proposal's requirement to note electricity prices' negative impact on climate policy is thus directly plan-supported, in line with the requirement for effective climate policy with a global perspective and permanent reduction in electricity tax. The committee puts forward no separate reason that the plan can address.

• risk of carbon leakagedecisive»Detta för också med sig att en politik som kraftigt avviker från EU och övriga världens politik på området kan skada vår konkurrenskraft och bidra till att flytta produktion från Sverige till andra länder vilket kan öka utsläppen på global nivå.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“This also means that a policy that significantly deviates from the EU and the rest of the world's policy in this area can damage our competitiveness and contribute to production moving from Sweden to other countries which can increase emissions at the global level.”
• higher electricity prices yield no climate benefit»Sverige bidrar exempelvis inte till minskade utsläpp genom att höja drivmedelspriserna, höja elpriserna och göra det mer kostsamt för företag att verka i Sverige om Kina samtidigt kan öka sina utsläpp varje år med mer än vad hela Sverige släpper ut.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Sweden does not, for example, contribute to reduced emissions by raising fuel prices, raising electricity prices and making it more costly for businesses to operate in Sweden if China meanwhile can increase its emissions every year by more than all of Sweden emits.”
• effective climate policy globally»Bedriva en effektiv klimatpolitik med ett tydligt globalt perspektiv« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Conduct effective climate policy with a clear global perspective”
• reduced electricity tax»Sänka skatten på elenergi permanent för att underlätta elektrifieringen« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Permanently reduce electricity tax to facilitate electrification”