The Swedish electricity transmission system operator, Svenska Kraftnät, has recently offered the European Commission a number of commitments concerning its operation of the Swedish transmission system. Svenska Kraftnät will now subdivide the Swedish transmission system into two or more bidding zones and operate the system on this basis by 1 July 2011 at the latest. In the interim period, congestion within the transmission system will be managed by taking into account regulating resources suitable for countertrade. 

The reason for the commitments is the concern, expressed by the Commission, that Svenska Kraftnät may have abused its dominant position when anticipating internal congestion within the Swedish electricity transmission system by reducing interconnection capacity for trade between Sweden and neighbouring Member States of the EU and the EEA.

This concern was addressed by Copenhagen Economics already in 2006, when Energinet.dk, the Danish system operator, asked us to verify empirically whether the claims were correct that capacity constraints implemented by Svenska Kraftnät on the Øresund-connection may have caused economic losses to Danish consumers and simultaneously benefits to Swedish consumers, and if so, to estimate the size of the losses and gains caused by the behaviour of Svenska Kraftnät. The work was presented to the Commission in the above case.

For further information, please contact: Claus Kastberg Nielsen