In winter, “light is life” – and the ongoing energy crisis threatens to have a devastating impact here both materially and psychologically.
by Fu Yiming, He Miao and Patrick Ekstrand
STOCKHOLM, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — While many Swedes have chosen to turn off their lights to save money on the electricity bill, this is unfortunately not an option for Helen Hogberg, who owns a lighting shop in Stockholm’s Old Town.
Day and night, dozens of light bulbs in her shop window cast a cozy glow on the cobblestone street. Her business would die in obscurity.
Outside the shop, passerby Ramona Ohlin, marveling at the lights on display, told Xinhua: “Winter is coming, the nights are getting longer and colder, it’s getting more and more depressing.”
Ohlin, who lives in an apartment in central Stockholm, complained about the sky-high electricity bills and recalled that her landlord had asked her to “use the electricity as sparingly as possible”.
“This is quite depressing, because it’s so dark outside, but I have to save as much as possible,” she said.
Between November and early March, most Swedes go to work and return home in the dark, as the sun is rarely visible above the horizon or remains hidden behind thick clouds. In the depths of winter, the Stockholm area only has around 5.5 hours of daylight, while in the north of the country almost 20 hours per day are in total darkness.
In winter, “light is life” – and the ongoing energy crisis threatens to have a devastating impact here both materially and psychologically.
A recent survey shows that more than half of Swedes are becoming increasingly pessimistic about the future. Two out of three are worried about their increasing household expenses and confidence in the financial future of Swedish households is at an all-time low.
The energy crisis resulting from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the Western sanctions against Russia, a major energy exporter, has hit Europe hard and also hit Sweden, a country that is traditionally self-sufficient in electricity.
According to Statistics Sweden, the electricity price increased by 54.2 percent in September compared to the previous year. Consumers have been hit particularly hard in the south of the country, where spot prices for electricity recently rose to five times more expensive than a year ago, according to statistics from electricity producer Vattenfall.
To save money on the utility bill, Ohlin said she would not install electric Christmas tree lights this year. “I guess I’ll be dealing with traditional candles. It’ll be cosy, but will also feel quite medieval,” she laughed.
Several municipalities across the country have also decided not to install electric Christmas decorations in public spaces. Seventeen municipalities, including the city of Stockholm, said they would reduce Christmas lights.
The local media Mitt i has recently reported that the beautiful strings of lights that have illuminated alleys, squares and streets since the 1950s – a traditional and popular feature of Stockholm’s Old Town in winter – may not be available this year.
“In the past, local business associations took care of the Christmas lights… and the associations dissolved. The owners of small, local businesses have neither time nor money to arrange Christmas lights,” reported Mitt i.
Due to the energy crisis, the main grid operator Svenska kraftnat has warned that Swedes may for the first time experience load shedding where the electricity to households in certain areas is temporarily turned off to ensure the integrity of the grid and the transmission of electricity.
In an effort to save energy, the Energy Agency has asked citizens to lower the temperature at home, take shorter showers, turn off white goods and run electricity-intensive appliances during off-peak hours.
But under an enormous financial burden, the Swedes already in September reduced household electricity consumption by 18 percent on an annual basis and by 21 percent in the south, where electricity is the most expensive, statistics show.
The Swedish 12-month inflation, CPIF (Consumer price index with fixed interest rate) is mainly driven by the energy crisis, to 9.7 percent in September, the highest level in three decades. The prices of necessities, such as electricity, petrol, water and food, rose at a rate not seen in the country in decades.
In addition to the ever-increasing electricity bills, Hogberg’s business is also troubled by the sky-high costs of daily operations and the rising rent, which is expected to increase by around 10 percent.
The latter, she said, could be the last straw for her.
Source: sn.dk
