You have to face the bill the renewed electrical grid
Due to major investments in the electrical grid, a total of 77 per cent must pay higher network lease next year.
Three out of four electricity customers thus receive increased network lease due to increased costs due major investments in the grid in the near future.
The grid rental will on average increase by 5.5 per cent in the areas where a increase has been declared.
– The investments that the electrical companies now have to perform, is already paid for by their customers, says Secretary General of the Home owners society, Morten Andreas Meyer..
to upgrade the grid
It is in a survey among Energy Norway‘s member companies, with 30 companies that together cover 2.2 million of the country’s electricity customers, it is apparent that the grid rental will increase.
The member companies in Energy Norway account for 99 per cent of the power generation, accounting for approximately 90 per cent of electricity and grid customers in Norway.
The network companies have and will invest a lot in the coming years to connect new customers to the network and to upgrade existing networks to ensure a safe power supply around the country. More extreme weather, population growth and new consumption patterns has to be taken into account when the grid is being dimensioned for the future.
The companies plan to invest about NOK 85 billion in regional and distribution grids before 2026. More than half will be spent on renewal of older power grid systems.
Additionally, Statnett plans to invest for about NOK 45 billion in the grid in the same period. Overall, this will lead to an increase in the cost for the customers.
The increased cost will vary from company to company, and depends, inter alia, on consumption development in the area and on the size of net investments the companies have to carry out locally.
It is claimed that the net rental will drop once more when the big investment wave is over.
Enough is enough
The home owners association (Huseiers Landsforbund) believes that members and most people now have to pay for investments we have already paid for.
– The customers have already paid for the investments that the companies now have to make. Greedy owners have garnished great dividends and the weakened the companies need to for continuous maintenance and improvement, says Meyer.
Now the grid companies need to collect the money they need in order to handle major maintenance.
– It’s absolutely unreasonable that the bill for major maintenance and irresponsible ownership must be paid for by consumers over and over again. The owners are mostly municipalities and counties who have linded their budgets by taking out unreasonably large dividends from the grid companies. When the investments that should have been done continuously now must be done, the coffers are virtually empty.
– Enough is enough. It is always the homeowners and consumers who have to foot the bill. Now the owners must end this form of double taxation of the private electricity customers, he concludes.
Determined by the NVE
The electrical companies determine the grid rental based on their annual allowed income as determined by the NVE, ie the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate.
This should cover operation, maintenance and investment in the distribution network, as well as costs for using central and regional networks, as well as property taxes.
Companies that have received an increased income framework will normally increase the rent, while companies that have a smaller frame work will lower the rent, with the reasons to ensure that the transmission network is operated and developed in a society-based, efficient and efficient manner.
As of December 31, 2016, there were in addition to Statnett 131 grid companies, and about two-thirds of them are vertically integrated companies. There are 117 owners in the local distribution network.
The pure grid companies are more cost-effective, have higher revenues and lower network lease than the vertically integrated companies, NVE writes in a recent press release.
© Norwegian home owners union / Norway Today
