From May 30, companies in southern Sweden will be able to apply for electricity support from a pot of SEK 30 billion, and receive the money later this year. At the Swedish Tax Agency, which handles the applications and payments, intensive work is underway to be able to start the assignment from the government in just over a month. The authority hires and trains staff, builds a completely new application service and prepares the processing.
The Tax Agency estimates that the assignment will cost the authority SEK 220 million and 250-300 new case managers will be recruited to the authority’s offices in, among other places, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Linköping, Jönköping and Uppsala. Permanent employees, fixed-term employees and consultants from staffing companies are hired.
Need to reprioritize
– It is a big recruitment considering that there are many people that we employ in a short time, says Marie Elmnäs, the Swedish Tax Agency’s business developer for electricity support for companies.
– The goal is that with the reinforcements we will be able to complete the mission, but it will also be necessary to re-prioritize the business. For example, when it comes to IT development, we may have to prioritize this over other things, but we hope that there will be no major impact on the regular business.
The companies’ application period is expected to last until the end of September. The Tax Agency hopes that most payments will be made automatically through the new application service shortly after the companies apply, but administrators will have to go through some of the applications and in some cases request additions before a decision can be made on electricity support.
Försäkringskassan employed 70 people
As far as the electricity subsidy for households is concerned, Försäkringskassan was the responsible authority. At Försäkringskassan, around 60 consultants and around ten temporary employees were employed to handle incoming calls, e-mail and administration linked to the customer meeting organization. It is still unclear how much the handling of electricity subsidies will cost the authority.
Hear Johan Grip, chief economist Företagarna, about the companies’ need for electricity support in the clip above.