The professor of economics and the representative of the Consumers’ Association thank the government’s recent electricity subsidy proposals, which aim to help those struggling with large electricity bills.
Cognoscenti consider the government’s new electricity subsidies as good solutions or at least in the right direction. On Monday Sanna Marini The government led by (sd) presented three new models with which society plans to support electricity bill payers in the future.
For these models, the one-time compensation directly helps with bills for the coming months, according to previous electricity consumption. The extension of the payment periods, on the other hand, brings margin to the consumer’s account.
It is not yet known what part of the electricity bill would be covered by the one-time payment and what the possible deductible part would be.
The third form of support is the electricity price ceiling, which is still being prepared and the details of which are not yet known.
Niku Määttänen
Professor Niku Määttanen according to the government’s recent proposals for electricity subsidies are good openings. Määttänen works as a professor of macroeconomics at the University of Helsinki.
“I think tying support to past electricity consumption instead of future consumption is a good idea. A one-time compensation tied to past consumption would not reduce the incentive to reduce electricity consumption,” he says.
Määttänen reminds that the information about the government’s new electricity subsidies is still incomplete in terms of details at this stage.
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The professor’s according to the average apartment dweller is usually not in trouble with the electricity bill, but those who live in an electrically heated detached house certainly are.
“I don’t fully understand why society should support everyone’s electricity bills,” Määttänen says.
According to the professor, society should try to help those who are in trouble, first of all, to cope with their electricity bills and not so much affect the price of electricity.
“Nobody needs support for a single electricity price spike, but for the electricity bill,” Määttänen says.
According to him, it is also important to avoid incentives that do not contribute to reducing the use of electricity or timing the use of electricity. According to him, for example, the transition of more and more people to exchange electricity users has been a step in the right direction, as it has made electricity consumption more flexible.
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Also Kuluttajaliitto praises the government’s recent electricity subsidy solutions.
Juha Beurling-Pomoell
“Sounds good”, the general secretary Juha Beurling-Pomoell The Consumers Union says.
According to him, the government has now realized that it’s not about complaining for nothing.
“The crisis is now, it is by no means just coming,” says Beurling-Pomoell.
He estimates that the combination of a one-off payment and the extension of payment periods will help those in trouble and support them roughly until March, when a longer-term form of support i.e. the price ceiling will possibly be implemented.
According to him, this is a good solution.
“It is not yet known how long this price crisis will last, a year or two. The price ceiling is one long-term solution”, Beurling-Pomoell reminds.
According to him, it is good that no decisions were made about the price ceiling yet, but that its details are being prepared more thoroughly.
“You can’t make long-term solutions in a panic.”
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