A protest against high electricity prices is being held on Wednesday across Norrbotten. The Electricity Uprising currently has over 1,400 members spread across all of Norrbotten, with the strongest foothold in Jokkmokk. The Electricity Uprising's demands include national prices, a real 'Norrland tariff' halving the energy tax in SE1 and SE2, abolishing the 'tax on tax' by removing VAT on electricity, and regulating the electricity grid monopoly.
The ambition of the Electricity Uprising is to spread the uprising and become stronger across the entire county and then together demonstrate on March 18 in Norrbotten's central towns. The Electricity Uprising has started in Jokkmokk, the municipality that is the country's largest producer of renewable electricity. Arjeplog is one of the places in Norrbotten participating in the Electricity Uprising protest.
Vattenfall states that the electricity price is set by the market and many different factors affect the price, that the price is set on a Nordic market, and that they themselves have no direct influence. A long rail protest began on Wednesday against the halving of night train services in Norrbotten starting Monday. The protest against the night train cuts started in Abisko and will end in Umeå on Thursday.
The background to the protest is a decision by the Swedish Transport Administration at the end of last year to have only one night train in each direction running between Stockholm and Narvik, to ensure quality until new vehicles are delivered in 2030. On the campaign's second day at Älvsbyn's travel center, the relay baton was handed over to the organizers on the train onward to Umeå. About ten demonstrations are planned from Luleå in the north to Malmö in the south, with the message that children should not sit in prison.
The purpose of the demonstrations is to show the massive opposition that exists against a lowered age of criminal responsibility, according to the organizations behind it, including Save the Children, Bris, the Church of Sweden, Vision, and the Academic Association SSR.