New energy support for businesses and consumers is expected in September
On September 19th, Norway’s parliament will meet to discuss sky-high energy prices. Parliament is being reconvened early for the talks.
Head of the NHO, Ole Erik Almlid, said that the government had drawn up rough plans for several potential measures to tackle high prices and ease pressure on businesses and households.
“What I can say is that there are several solutions on the table, and it is also possible to see combinations of the various solutions,” he told reporters after NHO met with LO and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre earlier in August.
The government have been under pressure to improve the current scheme offered to households in light of record prices. However, the PM and Finance Minister have ruled out the possibility of a maximum energy price.
Currently, the government covers 80 percent of energy bills when the price is above 70 kWh. However, there isn’t a similar scheme for business.
The portion of energy bills the government covers is to increase
From September, the government will cover up to 90 percent of energy bills when the price rises above 70 kWh.
Norway’s government will increase the portion of the bill it covers ahead of the previous schedule. However, it isn’t clear how this increase could be affected by changes or any additional support the government could offer households when parliament urgently reconvenes in September.
Interest rates to increase again
It’s more bad news for consumers’ wallets in Norway in September. Norway’s central bank, Norges Bank, has signalled that it will be hiking the key interest rate in September.
Norges Bank’s next rate hike will come after a double rate increase in August and an earlier one in June.
A key rate hike will inevitably lead to mortgage interest increases.
If you were to have a mortgage or loan of 4 million kroner at an interest rate of 2.5 percent over 25 years and your bank has issued a notice that it will raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage points, then your monthly repayments will increase by 996 kroner.
READ ALSO: What Norway’s latest double interest rate hike means for your finances
New driving licence design issued
Everyone who orders a new driving licence in Norway from September 1st will receive a new design, and laminated paper licences will be scrapped.
The new design is said to provide increased security against forgery and is easier to check, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration has said.
Laminated paper licences will need to be replaced by January 1st 2023.
Oslo-Aberdeen route launches
Airline Loganair will launch a flight which connects the Norwegian capital of Oslo with the Scottish city of Aberdeen in September.
Scottish airline Loganair will begin flying passengers between Oslo and Aberdeen six times a week from September 5th.
Tickets for flights are already on saleand the airline will typically fly direct from Oslo to Aberdeen every day apart from Saturday.
Flights take around one hour and 40 minutes, and prices begin from 1,055 kroner for a single, which includes 15kg of luggage and refreshments as standard. Fares also included the airline’s GreenSkies levy, which fully offsets the carbon emissions from every flight through an accredited environmental programme.
It may become more expensive to rent electric scooters
From September 1st, rental companies will need compulsory statutory liability coverage on their e-scooter networks.
The requirement is being brought in as part of a set of legislation aimed at regulating the use of e-scooters in Norway more thoroughly.
Norwegian newspaper VG reports that this new insurance requirement will likely make renting e-scooters more expensive.
Rental operators have said that the lack of competition in the market means that securing a competitive insurance policy would be incredibly difficult.
Ryde, a rental firm operating in Norway, told VG that it had yet to seal a deal, but when it does, the cost of renting an e-scooter would likely increase.
Tier told VG that prices would increase over the next 12 months once it signed the dotted line on an insurance agreement.
READ MORE: Why the price of e-scooter rentals in Norway will increase
Oslo Pride to go ahead
The Pride parade in Oslo was previously put on hold indefinitely following shootings near a gay pub and other locations the day before when the original parade was meant to be held in June.
However, Oslo’s pride celebration has now been given the green light to go ahead. As a result, on Saturday, September 10th, there will be a Pride parade through Norway’s capital city.
Following the parade, a solidarity demonstration will be held at Kontraskjæret at Akershus fortress.
Wine monopoly to raise prices
The price of many goods at Norway’s wine monopoly will increase, Norwegian newswire NTB reports.
Wholesalers who sell goods to the state-owned wine monopoly, which regulates the sale of any alcohol above 4.75 percent in Norway, will adjust their prices on September 1st.
“It is the wholesalers who set the prices. Some prices go up, while others go down. There will be a new selling price for 7,924 out of a total of 29,018 products, so the majority of the products will keep the same price,” Hege-Lill Hagen Asp, senior adviser at the wine monopoly, told NTB.
The cost of 350-millilitre bottles of Baileys and Aperol would rise. At the same time, some wines are seeing significant price increases.