Saturday, December 11th, 2021
State pays part of the bill
Norway wants to relieve consumers of electricity prices
The explosion in energy prices is increasingly burdening people. For low-wage earners, the rising price of electricity is increasingly becoming a question of existence. The calls for help are getting louder everywhere. The Norwegian government is acting.
The Norwegian government wants to ease the burden on consumers from the rapidly increasing electricity prices. As of the next electricity bill, Norwegian households are to receive state support through a deduction for exceptionally high electricity prices, as Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced in Oslo.
The state would then take over half of what exceeds a price of 70 Øre (around 0.07 euros) per kilowatt hour. The measure should therefore apply from December 2021 to March 2022. The government wants to submit a corresponding proposal to parliament as soon as possible.
“An extraordinary situation like this requires extraordinary measures,” said Støre. According to government figures, the direct cost of supporting electricity customers will be an estimated five billion Norwegian kroner (almost 500 million euros).
Electricity prices have risen sharply across Europe in the past few months. Millions of consumers in Germany are also affected. The consumer advice centers in this country are also calling for political action.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, private households paid an average of 32.62 cents per kilowatt hour in the first half of 2021. That was 4.7 percent more than in the second half of 2020 and 2.1 percent more than in the first half of 2020.