The Sweden, Norway working group aims to lower electricity prices in the Nordic region
Sweden and Norway announced that they were ready to start a joint working group aimed at reining in skyrocketing electricity costs in the Nordic region.
The decision was announced after a meeting between Swedish and Norwegian ministers in Stockholm, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Together with the Norwegian government [Swedish] The government is initiating a working group for the Nordic countries regarding the development of the market model, says Sweden’s Minister of Energy and Digital Development Khashayar Farmanbar in a press release.
He said the two countries are joining forces to ensure secure access to electricity and low prices in the Nordic region. “We want to find common solutions to common problems.”
According to the Swedish government, Denmark and Finland will also be invited to join the working group, to seek “solutions and models that ensure a functioning electricity market that can provide lower electricity prices for households and businesses and thus economic growth.”
The Nordic countries have had an exchange of power ever since the 1960s, said Terje Aasland, Norwegian Minister of Oil and Energy, in the press release.
Against the background of the energy crisis in Europe, these countries seek intensified cooperation to secure the power supply to industry and society, Aasland said.
He acknowledged the importance of the liquidity guarantees to electricity companies recently proposed by Sweden and Finland. Although there is currently no need for such an intervention in Norway, he said his country is closely following developments in the electricity market.
The Swedish parliament on Monday approved the government’s proposal to issue 250 billion Swedish kronor ($23 billion) in credit guarantees to electricity companies in Sweden and neighboring countries to deal with the problems that have arisen on the electricity exchange.
On Sunday, the Finnish government also proposed to provide domestic power companies with loans and guarantees of up to 10 billion euros ($10 billion) to ensure their liquidity was sufficient.
— IANS
int/shs
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
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