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ID: 094903

Politics of electricity deregulation in Sweden: the art of acting on multiple arenas / Hogselius, Per; Kaijser, Arne

Hogselius, Per	Journal Article
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2010.

Summary/Abstract

This article investigates the deregulation of the Swedish electricity industry as a political process. Discussions about deregulation started in the late 1980s. A first step in the process was the corporatization of the Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall in 1992. The deregulatory process culminated with the new Electricity Law, which entered into force in 1996. We investigate in historical depth how a diverse range of actors contributed to shaping both the new institutional environment and the political discourse. The article scrutinizes not only the formal political decision-making process and the activities of a variety of ministries, boards and agencies, but also the processes by which energy companies and other relevant industrial actors influenced the outcome of the regulatory reforms. We explicitly focus on activities taking place on both political and business arenas, showing that major stakeholders acted on several arenas simultaneously to influence the deregulatory process and that the large power companies were most skilful in doing so. We also show that activities on the political and business arenas mutually reinforced each other in shaping the new regulatory framework.

Key Words

Sweden ; Restructuring ; Electricity Deregulation

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ID: 163564

Under the Damocles Sword: Managing Swedish energy dependence in the twentieth century / Kaijser, Arne

Kaijser, Arne	Journal Article
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Summary/Abstract

n 1900 a Swedish member of parliament argued that Sweden had a Damocles Sword hanging over it due to the country's rapidly growing imports of coal. This energy import dependence has continued to plague Sweden ever since. While coal dominated imports in the first half of the twentieth century, oil and uranium dominated in the second half. This article examines how Swedish public and private actors coped with the country's energy dependence. Several crises prompted such efforts. Coal strikes in the Interwar years and oil embargoes in the 1970s spurred diversification and collaboration with other importing countries. During World War II Sweden built trustful coal relations with Nazi Germany and stockpiled coal. In the post-war era fear of the international oil majors spurred attempts to increase public control over energy imports, and a state-owned company for foreign oil exploration was set up. Moreover, during and after wars and other acute crises Swedish actors intensified their efforts to exploit more of the country's domestic energy resources. However, when the crisis was over it often proved to be cheaper to import energy from abroad. Thus imports have remained high and the Damocles Sword is still hanging over Sweden.

Key Words

Sweden ; Imports ; Energy Dependence ; Energy History ; Crisis Management

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