– This is a price crisis, not an electricity crisis. We don’t lack electricity in Norway, but electricity has become a commodity in the market. I think this is the reason for the exorbitant prices we have now.
So said Sondry Johan Wikran Larsen at Rødt Sandefjord.
He and group leaders in other parties have noticed for themselves how high electricity prices are putting pressure on the family’s private budget.
Therefore, like many ordinary people, they took several different measures to save electricity and money. Here you will find the tricks of the group leaders, with eight out of nine answering SB questions.
drops dryer
On Monday 22 August there will be a record hike in electricity prices in Norway. Politicians and ordinary people as well as public and private companies will take notice.
The evolution of electricity prices over the past year has caused many Norwegians to change their habits regarding their electricity consumption, and stress.
There are now many people who cannot afford to shower or wash clothes when they need to.
Charlotte Jahren Overbye (SV)
At Odd Rune Langeland (MDG) home, a family of up to four people is becoming more aware, including about the laundry:
We don’t wash clothes as often as before. Plus, we hang the laundry instead of using the clothes dryer, he says.
The family also did this:
■ It is best to avoid using multiple power-hungry devices at the same time.
■ The application uses the electricity provider and checks the cost of using different devices at home.
■ Awareness of lighting and heating.
Heat rejection
Bror-Lennart Mentzoni (KrF) has also introduced concrete measures to save energy in the home:
■ Low room temperature.
■ showers are shorter.
■ flat less illumination.
“We’re also considering long-term measures like switching to LED lights, heat pumps and solar cells,” he explains.
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Karin Virik (V) says that she generally uses little electricity, but at the same time also consciously saves electricity:
■ Burn more wood.
■ Turn down floor heating in the bathroom, laundry room, hallway as well as around the house when you are away.
■ You have recently entered into a one-year fixed electricity price agreement to get a predictable, fixed electricity bill.
– I did it very late, in the beginning of July. But she says it has already paid off.
Ship your car when it’s cheaper
Bjørn Orerød (Ap) also has wood burning as an important source of heat, and wood is produced indoors. In addition, the family does the following:
■ Uses a heat pump.
■ Next year, the plan is to re-insulate the house, as well as renovate the heat pump technology.
Tor Steinar Mathiassen (H) says he has been in a conscious relationship with energy saving for many years.
Now it also does this:
■ aware of when to use electrical appliances during the day.
In Sondre Johan Wikran Larsen (Rødt) and his family, charging, washing and reconditioning a car is certainly not random:
■ They track the spot price of electricity, run the dishwasher and washing machine, and charge the electric car when it’s cheaper.
■ They are renovating an old house, gradually switching to energy-saving solutions.
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– We may have done so regardless of the high electricity prices. But now that everything about additional insulation and other measures becomes more expensive, it takes longer to save enough money to implement it, he said.
Now the family has taken two of the nine rooms in a brick house since 1946. The next step is the kitchen and the bedroom.
– You can’t shower
Charlotte Jahren Overbye (SV) is generally concerned that high electricity prices — along with expensive food, high interest rates and expensive fuel — are making it impossible for some people to do completely everyday things:
A lot of people now can’t shower or wash clothes when they need to, she said.
Øverbye believes that families with children are at risk, as they are major consumers of electricity.
We are particularly concerned about low-income families, such as the disabled, social assistance recipients, lower pensioners, students and housing benefit recipients, she says.
She and her family use an app where they track electricity prices hour by hour. This is how they can take more cost saving measures:
■ They wait for the washing machine, dryer and dishwasher to be put in until the price of electricity goes down.
■ All devices are completely full before starting, only work on eco.
■ These days, the family is installing smart home energy management, so that they can improve energy efficiency.
There are four people in Ida Cathrine Nilsen (Sp) house, and saving electricity isn’t that easy:
– We have to shower, wash clothes, and use the dishwasher, she explains. however:
Perhaps we think more about the times when we use electricity, and realize more when it is expensive and cheap.
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War, exports and wind less
Leaders of political groups have fairly agreed-upon explanations for why we are now paying so much more for electricity, in part due to a tighter energy market in Europe:
■ shutdown of European nuclear power plants.
■ Fewer coal-fired power plants in Europe.
■ The war in Ukraine led to a decrease in gas supplies from Russia, and thus a disruption in the European electricity market.
■ Norwegian export of electricity to Europe.
– When we export our hydropower abroad, and we don’t have good enough control over the degree to which our water tanks are filled, we have to import expensive “non-green” European energy, says Overbye.
In addition, climatic and weather changes have reduced electricity production:
■ In Europe, there is less wind, and therefore less wind energy is produced.
■ In Norway, the rainfall is much lower than before, so the water level in the reservoirs is low.
There is also poor transmission capacity between northern and southern Norway, says Tor Steinar Mathiassen.
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