08:52
We already know that the grid companies charged but did not maintain as one probably thought they did.
Everyone remembers the years with constantly doubled grid prices, good old times when the grid bill was the one that stung…
The electricity producers have zero incentive for any kind of Robin Hood for Sweden, they thank and take.
Hydropower is not easily expanded and wind power requires huge investments. Maybe they will move into other energy types and build solar parks?
Or they take all the profit and build a stable platform with properties where the electricity barons reach out to the new electricity underclass who have lost their homes.
The market is deregulated and every Swede with a bit of land and cash can build a solar park and become an electricity baron but it is hard to imagine any other business idea where you could have multiplied your profit tenfold all else equal over three years.
The conclusion can only be that wind and solar power have had an epic lobby that managed to get the state to commit energy suicide which led to tenfold profits for them.
09:31
Yes, that was kind of the point and you have written it before, it doesn’t matter what we do because demand from Europe is higher.
The only reasonable thing is to put a hand on the export tap so the state can regain the ability to steer towards the target price.
The EU has opened for this but apparently Sweden’s government was not so keen on it.
Let me guess why – the lobby from the new electricity barons is enormous, they probably don’t want to go from 5 SEK/kWh to 0.75 SEK/kWh, they have now gotten a taste for cash.
When you get here you understand what runaway corruption there is in the electricity market. First we shut down all state (our!!) regulating power so private actors can multiply profits tenfold overnight.
Then they oppose reducing exports so that prices go down to the target price of 0.75 SEK/kWh because then the electricity producers no longer make enormous profits.
It doesn’t seem like anyone is doing what is best for Sweden here.
09:44
Energy-intensive industry and agriculture are the worst off.
Residents in Norrland because it is -20 degrees there now and if they get electricity prices like in the south it will probably be expensive to stay warm.
I agree with you that all northerners and farmers can blame themselves, let them freeze 👍
Then all those with holiday homes in Sweden who have direct electric heating, a big extra cost.
Electric car owners?
All larger houses should really have district heating if they are within radius of it and the district heating companies are working overtime right now because I think everyone with bigger houses has started to understand why pay 4 SEK/kWh when you can pay 0.40 SEK/kWh.
If you live a bit outside, you probably have trees on your large plot and a stove and an area for solar panels?
09:45
Some irony in the second paragraph if it wasn’t clear.
09:57
My conclusion was district heating, it is not possible to use the usual solutions like geothermal or air-water, air-air pumps when prices are this high. We are not allowed to install solar panels on the roof, we weren’t allowed in our previous house either actually in a villa area in Stockholm.
We could replace the boiler which seems to be a few years old but then I’d rather put that cost into installing district heating and reduce the cost per kWh by 90%.
I have read about energy glass after some kind soul in the thread and am considering having it on some windows.
11:10
The first test will be at the end of next week. Then it could be -15 degrees in southern Sweden and -30 degrees in the northern parts.
Nothing is linear but the price quadrupled when the temperature dropped by 10 degrees last time it happened.
Anyway, I feel secure about the electricity support of 0.50 SEK/kWh which is paid no later than February.
Wild guess is that they have realized they cannot finance a price cap.
Time to start fiddling with the export tap or else we probably have the biggest wealth redistribution in modern times this winter and the owners of the electricity companies will become our new upper class across the country when citizens have taken all their savings for the luxury of being able to have 18 degrees indoors.
11:44
Since 60% of the annual consumption is used in winter when prices are highest because there is no wind, I don’t see how prices within 10-15 years can go down to district heating prices, 0.40-0.50 SEK/kWh.
We need to invest in another energy type than wind power to get there, right?
Checked what the surcharge will be next year for district heating where we live, 0.013 SEK/kWh.
In the last 2-3 years electricity prices have at least quintupled?
That should be considered a long enough time horizon and if the price is also 5-6-7-8 SEK in the other scale, it’s an easy choice, the installation has paid off in one cold winter?
However, I am curious about what contracts you commit to because in my world you can keep the connections to switch back to other heating if new times come?
08:44
Once again, it is windy here at least and the temperature is above zero, but the electricity prices are 4.25 SEK.
Yesterday we read that in SE4 some municipalities/areas have reduced their electricity consumption by 25%, a decrease of a few percent would lead to significantly lower electricity prices according to experts. One can really only conclude that the electricity supply is non-functional as it looks today. As soon as a reactor is paused, there is no full storm, or temperatures are above +10 degrees, electricity prices skyrocket. A monthly average of today’s electricity price will result in a very high electricity bill from Dec-Feb and then the electricity price could be even higher, for example, I would get 30,000 SEK plus the grid fee.
I also understood why there is such high consumption with geothermal heating; the area is a reasonable 300m2 but with high ceilings, especially on the ground floor where the ceiling is probably over 5 meters, so the volume becomes quite large. It becomes quite a large air column that needs to be heated. For future installation, I am wondering if underfloor heating on the ground floor wouldn’t be smart, I have always thought of it as a “luxury product” but then the heat starts under the feet and rises throughout the house so you get maximum benefit from it, right?
Then it struck me yesterday that France has 56 nuclear power plants, the UK is going to build new ones, Poland is going to build new ones, and Finland has a reactor soon in operation. Why we are shutting down, I find it hard to understand when there are, what, a couple of hundred nuclear power reactors in Europe?
The only reasonable thing is to build new ones during the transition period until we figure out how to get stable renewable energy, batteries feel like an important component in the system. Replacing nuclear power with closed energy-intensive industry and a population in debt enforcement was probably one of the worst decisions of this century.