The moderates' proposal is a copy of a model used in Norway.
This means that if the electricity price reaches a certain level, the state must step in and compensate households during the winter by taking part of the bill.
Exactly where the limit for this high-cost protection is set depends on the market situation, but according to the party's economic policy spokesperson Elisabeth Svantesson, it could be that the state pays 75 percent of the electricity price that exceeds 1 kroner per kilowatt hour.
The taxpayers' bill for three months is expected to amount to SEK 15 billion.
According to the national economist and welfare researcher Andreas Berg, subsidies of the type that the Moderates are now proposing tend to go completely wrong.
Instead of encouraging frugality and energy efficiency improvements, it is households that consume a lot of electricity that benefit.
- This means, on the one hand, that it risks being expensive for the state, and, on the other hand, that households experience it as unfair in the worst case.
If you want to help the resource-poor, it is easier to give this money directly via grants or reduced taxes.
So they can decide for themselves how to best use them.
Warning example
According to Andreas Berg, history is full of examples of how politicians experimented with different types of subsidies.
What they have in common is that they almost never functioned as intended but benefited other groups than those they were intended to benefit.
Elisabeth Svantesson (M), however, defends herself against the economists' criticism:
- They talk about price signals, but it is not the case that electricity will be cheap this winter.
According to the forecasts, it will be tougher than ever and we politicians must do what we can to make it easier for households, says Elisabeth Svantesson in Aktuellt.
She also says that a completed proposal would mean an upward limitation in terms of electricity consumption.