By: Dr Štefan Šumah
Many of you may remember the cult comic Alan Ford. I personally enjoyed reading it immensely. In this comic, there occasionally appeared a bizarre character, an anti-superhero named Superciuk. He was a former garbage man who discovered the superpower of his alcoholic breath and used it to rob the poor and give to the rich.
Does this remind you of anything? Who buys electric cars? Those who want to be seen as environmentally conscious in society, who want to be trendy, and of course, have money. Better electric cars cost much more than similar cars with internal combustion engines. Only the wealthy can afford them. And the state even subsidises them. Yes, the state subsidises expensive cars for the wealthy under the guise of a green transition. Similarly, the state subsidises solar power plants for those who can afford them, providing them with additional benefits that those with lower incomes can only dream of.
And where do these subsidies come from? The final price of electricity charged to electricity consumers consists of several elements: the price for the supply of electricity, the price for the use of the network, the contribution for supporting the production of electricity in cogeneration with high efficiency and from renewable sources, the contribution for energy efficiency, supplier costs (for household consumption), excise duty on electricity, and value-added tax.
ARE WE NOW, THE PEOPLE OF CARINTHIA, STYRIA, DOLENJSKA, AND PREKMURJE, WHO HAVE AVERAGE INCOMES BELOW THE SLOVENIAN AVERAGE, GOING TO SUBSIDISE THE LJUBLJANA YUPPIES, SO THAT THEY CAN BE TRENDY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS? THE REAL SUPERCIUK SYSTEM: TAKE FROM THE POOR AND GIVE TO THE RICH.
Contributions to the price of electricity, which are charged to all end electricity consumers, both poor and rich, include: the contribution for supporting the production of electricity in cogeneration with high efficiency and from renewable sources (OVE and SPTE contribution) and the contribution for energy efficiency (URE contribution). The OVE and SPTE contribution provide funds to the Support Centre at Borzen for implementing the support scheme for electricity from renewable energy sources and produced in cogeneration with high efficiency (so all end consumers subsidise, for example, the Prime Minister as well).
The contribution for energy efficiency is levied by all electricity suppliers on end consumers for measures to achieve energy savings at end consumers under their programmes and for measures to increase energy efficiency for the implementation of the Eco Fund programme.
Well, there we have it, subsidies. The Eco Fund is the one that distributes subsidies on behalf of the state. We all pay for electricity, both the poor and the rich. The price is the same for everyone. However, only the wealthy can benefit from subsidies for expensive electric cars, for example. I strongly doubt that anyone with an average Slovenian salary could afford a better electric car, let alone those with incomes lower than the average. Yes, they pay just like the wealthy do through the electricity price for the energy efficiency contribution, which is primarily returned to the wealthy through subsidies.
Now the government wants to subsidise electric bicycles as well. Will we, the people of Carinthia, Styria, Dolenjska, and Prekmurje, who have average incomes below the Slovenian average, now subsidise the Ljubljana yuppies so that they can be trendy and environmentally conscious? The real Superciuk system: take from the poor and give to the rich.