Against the background of exploding energy prices, the Swiss Socialist Party presents a plan for the total restructuring of the electricity market. “He needs more public service and less speculation,” says parliamentary group leader Roger Nordmann.
“We are faced with a total failure of the current pseudo-liberal market organization”, declared Sunday the elected socialist in the German-speaking titles of Tamedia. According to him, the prices of electricity in Switzerland have, for 20 years, nothing to do with the actual production costs in the country.
In question, the suppliers who preferred to source cheap electricity from the international stock market and sell at a profit, rather than investing in domestic sustainable production. Today, rather than aid to households, it is a total restructuring of the electricity market which is urgent, affirms the national councilor from Vaud and leader of the socialist group.
The PS will submit as of the autumn session an urgent interpellation to demand a total revision of the law on the electricity market. In an internal document, of which Keystone-ATS also obtained a copy, the party outlines a three-step plan.
Sinking fund
From 2023, the PS proposes to create a sinking fund for companies with high electricity consumption. This would be fed by a tax on excess profits from electricity companies – according to the document “those which produce at low prices and sell at high prices”. The party estimates that it would take around 500 million francs.
From 2024, the Socialists advocate the establishment of a national supply pool: the power stations should supply electricity at the cost of production. It would operate as a regulated “basic service” for large electricity consumers.
In the medium term, it is above all a question for the PS of prohibiting speculation. For distribution system operators, the speculative purchase of electricity on the stock market must be “strictly limited”, can we read in the internal document. Managers would then be forced to establish long-term purchase contracts, and producers would have to sell them the largest share at production costs.
Open to criticism
These PS proposals to transform the electricity market are not final,” Roger Nordmann tweeted on Sunday. The politician is at the same time appealing to households, SMEs and distributors to share their suggestions, as well as their criticisms.
On Twitter, the debate was quick. The chairman of the parliamentary group Le Center Philipp Matthias Bregy severely criticized the ideas of the PS on Sunday, which he described as “madness”. Implementing such demands would require a complete shutdown of trade, he said. “The electricity market is more complex than the PS presents,” he adds.
Bernese PLR national councilor Christian Wasserfallen questions the idea of a windfall tax. “No one knows what excess profit is,” he wrote on Twitter. In addition, electrical companies belong to the cantons and municipalities, he notes.
No to a cap
The head of the Valais energy department Roberto Schmidt (Le Centre) rejects the request for a cap on electricity prices: companies on the free market have benefited for years from very low, he told SonntagsBlick.
Meanwhile, large power generators, including hydroelectric plant operators, have had to sell their electricity at a loss in recent years.
Schmidt believes power producers should think carefully about how they invest profits. It would be difficult to understand that dividends were paid on a large scale.
The Valais State Councilor is President of the Conference of Cantonal Energy Directors. The latter has not yet taken an official position on the question, said Roberto Schmidt. But he is convinced that other cantons share his position.
This article has been published automatically. Source: ats