Electricity sector defends itself against capital requirements
Published: Tuesday, Jun 18th 2024, 13:10
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The Federal Council wants to tighten the liquidity and capital requirements for eight systemically important electricity companies. The federal government should no longer have to step in in future. These plans have met with resistance from the electricity sector during the consultation process.
The Federal Council's proposal is intended as a successor solution to the rescue package that expires in 2026 and was urgently decided upon. First and foremost, the owners - i.e. the cantons and municipalities - should be responsible.
They must ensure that the electricity companies have sufficient liquidity at all times and are in such a stable position that they can meet their payment obligations even in stress situations and that there is no over-indebtedness.
The Federal Electricity Commission (Elcom) is to review this and, if necessary, demand improvements. Axpo, Alpiq, BKW, Primeo Energie, Azienda Elettrica Ticinese (AET), Groupe E, Elektrizitätswerk der Stadt Zürich (EWZ) and Industrielle Werke Basel (IWB) are considered to be systemically relevant.
Interference with economic freedom
The Association of Swiss Electricity Companies (VSE) rejects the Federal Council's proposal. It overshoots the mark and encroaches deeply on the economic freedom of systemically important companies. No neighboring country has such requirements. The bill should be limited to liquidity requirements and ensure the operation of systemically important power plants.
The business umbrella organization Economiesuisse welcomes greater resilience in the sector. However, it says that there should be no excessive interference in entrepreneurial freedom and thus agrees with the electricity association. Audits of equity capital and minimum requirements for this are neither sensible nor appropriate. The proposed sanctions should also be questioned. The association also rejects supervisory levies for Elcom.
The SVP rejects the proposal "for the time being". The proposal, which is "clear" in itself, does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the consequences for electricity prices. Elcom would be upgraded, the IT systems would be expanded and recurring costs would be incurred. A new levy would be introduced for this purpose. As with the rescue package, the SVP rejects the billions in subsidiary financial aid to rescue companies.
Security of supply central
The FDP considers the draft to be inadequate. The sender should revise it and submit it for consultation again together with the emergency plans. The proposals would give the impression of being equipped for anything and everything. Instead of keeping the electricity companies afloat with capital requirements in the same way as banking regulation, they should use emergency scenarios to ensure the supply of electricity in the event of liquidity bottlenecks.
According to the Greens, the focus should not be on the companies, but on securing supply. They therefore support increased supervision and greater transparency in wholesale energy trading as well as risk and liquidity regulations.
In a further step that has already been announced, the Federal Council is to present effective measures for the continued operation of power plants in the event of bankruptcy. And the legislator should prevent speculative proprietary trading or at least strictly separate it from production. The Green Liberals did not take part in the consultation process.
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