Electricity price, EEA | Rebellion against the foreign chapels
The sky-high electricity prices have led to heated discussions around Norwegians’ dinner tables, on social media and in the Storting throughout the autumn and winter. Norway’s electricity connections abroad have been partly blamed for the high prices in southern Norway.
This requires politicians from several parties that Norway should renegotiate the agreements we have linked to the power cables. Among other things, Trond Giske (Labor Party) calls for a power uprising in his own party, and says yes The class struggle that the government must take the initiative to renegotiate the agreements with the UK and the EU.
The same was said by Socialist Left Party leader Audun Lysbakken in Politisk Kvarter on NRK on Tuesday. The Labor Party’s State Secretary Amund Vik in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy replied that a large-scale renegotiation or termination of the agreements is not relevant.
On Wednesday, the Progress Party quietly took over questions to the government in the Storting about how critical the situation may become before power exports limit.
– One of the first things the Center Party promised after the election this autumn was that they would put in place a legislative work on how to limit power exports. Four months later, while our country is in the middle of a electricity price crisis, we are sitting with the decision: The government has not raised a finger to establish contact with Germany or the UK on how to limit the export of electricity, says Frank Sve (Frp) to Nettavisen.
Expert believes Norway can be put on as opportunists
The power exchange between Norway and abroad is regulated by the EEA agreement, the free trade agreement with the United Kingdom and separate agreements between Statnett and their partners on international connections. Norway can not impose restrictions on its own electricity exports in these agreements, points out Minister of Petroleum and Energy Marte Mjøs Persen (Labor) in a written answer in the Storting.
See Marius Arion Nilsen (Frp) and Marte Mjøs Persen (Labor Party) in a duel over foreign chapels in the Storting’s Question Time on Wednesday:
Associate Professor Ignacio Herrera Anchustegui at the University of Bergen is an expert in energy law and EU law. He says Persen is right.
– The EEA agreement prohibits quantitative restrictions on goods such as electricity. Norway is part of an interconnected electricity market, and then Norway can not create its own restrictions that are contrary to the agreements, including EEA agreements and free trade agreements with the United Kingdom, says Anchustegui.
If Norway, as the only country, wants restrictions on the power exchange, it will most likely be a breach of the contract Norway has committed to, according to the expert.
– If Norway wants to renegotiate the agreement, we will play an opportunistic card that is not well received by our partners in the EU and the UK. We can not just negotiate when it suits us. Then we lose confidence, says Anchustegui.
He thinks the EU will probably think that Norway’s desire to renegotiate agreements is quite obvious and unsympathetic, as Norway is by no means the only country in Europe with high electricity prices right now. Norway can not escape its obligations, Anchustegui believes.
– The politicians probably feel that they must do something, but I believe that we have enough room in the EEA agreement to help those who need help due to high electricity prices without entering into an agreement as such. For example, through the government’s electricity package or other similar proposals that have come from the European Commission. This is a complicated discussion that needs technical and legal knowledge, and not hasty decisions.
More agreements
Catherine Banet is an associate professor at the Nordic Institute of Maritime Law at the University of Oslo. She says that the opportunity to renegotiate is about several types of regulations and agreements:
- Norway’s bilateral agreement with the United Kingdom on cross-border trade in electricity and co-operation on transmission connections.
- Agreements as system manager Statnett enters into with its partners on the development and operation of foreign connections.
- Rules on the internal market laid down in the EEA Agreement or linked to separate free trade agreements.
Banet rules that it can also be internal that sets limits on agreements on foreign connections. If these rules are contradictory, there will often be rules in the foreign license granted to Statnett that regulate this.
– In addition, the foreign licenses set conditions that will ensure that the consideration for socio-economic profitability and safe operation is taken into account when developing and operating the cable. Licensing authorities can also demand that agreements of significant importance for the power exchange be approved, says Banet.
In other words, the whole thing is quite complicated.
– It is therefore not just a question of renegotiating a single agreement, but seeing the connection between different types of agreements, says Banet.
Believes the time is overdue for conversations
The Progress Party’s Frank Sve believes that the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has the opportunity to change the terms of the agreements if all considerations so require.
He refers to section 12 of the license terms of system manager Statnett in connection with the foreign cables to Germany and the United Kingdom.
– When we see that Norwegian electricity customers are in the middle of a price crisis, we therefore believe that the time is overdue for the government to get out of the paralysis of action, and take the initiative for talks with these countries with the aim of limiting power exports, says Sve.