This week, electricity prices skyrocketed in the southern half of the country. At times the differences were several tens of thousands of percent. But even over a slightly longer period of time, households and businesses usually pay twice as much for electricity in Götaland and Svealand. So far in December, the average price in Norrland (electricity areas 1 and 2) is around 13 öre, in electricity area 4 around SEK 1.20 per kWh. Almost ten times higher. So far this year, the price is twice as high in southern Sweden. Ten öre less Despite that, northerners also pay almost ten öre less in electricity tax per kilowatt hour – a tax discount that was introduced in the early 1980s as a regional political compensation for the fact that it is more expensive to heat a house in the colder Northland. That support was introduced long before Sweden was divided into electricity areas (2011) with different prices as a result. For a home owner who burns around 20,000 kWh per year, that makes around SEK 2,000 per year in tax difference. The discount totals approximately SEK 760 million annually, according to the government’s state budget. This is annoying – it lowers the competitiveness of companies in southern Sweden, the critics believe. “Almost derisively” “We now get raises instead. It’s almost derisive. But the serious thing is that it costs jobs and lowers competitiveness,” says Per Tryding, vice president of the South Swedish Chamber of Commerce. The ordinary tax will be raised again at the turn of the year by 1.1 öre per kWh, even though the government and the Sweden Democrats had promised to freeze the tax. The same thing happened at the turn of last year. Including VAT, the electricity tax next year will be closer to 55 öre/kWh. In large parts of Norrland, the discount remains at 9.6 öre. The Ministry of Trade and Industry says that it is not very high on the agenda to review the tax difference.
t4-general