A roundup of the latest news on Monday

Government and Sweden Democrats to cut electricity tax by 6 billion kronor

Sweden’s government has agreed with its Sweden Democrat support party to cut taxes by 6 billion kronor, the parties have announced in an article in the Aftonbladet newspaper, in its latest election year budget giveaway.  

The reduction in tax by 10 öre per kwh will be combined with a system of “high cost protection”, which will start to apply if the average electricity cost in any of Sweden’s four electricity regions exceeds 1,000 kronor a year. It will start to apply from January 1st, 2026. 

“This will mean a 20 percent reduction from the normal tax level and represents a significant reprieve for households and business, for example, the electricity cost is going to fall by 1,000 kronor for a house which is not warmed up by electricity.” 

The Centre Party MP Niels Paarup-Pedersen pointed out in a post on X that the cut in electricity tax came after three successive rises brought in by the government. 

“Today the government says they are lowering the electricity tax. Good! The same government has raised the electricity tax three times in recent years. So that means it’s election year!” he wrote. 

Swedish vocabulary: en sänkning – a reduction 

Two goods trains derailed by rainy weather 

Two goods trains – one carrying ammunition and the other timber – have been derailed during the extremely heavy rainfall experienced over the weekend on the coast of Norrland. 

The accident is likely to affect all train traffic on the route, including passenger trains, for several weeks. 

The two trains were derailed just outside Örnsköldsvik, with Peter Jonsson from the Swedish Transport Administration describing the area around the timber train as “like a game of pick-up sticks”, with wood strewn everywhere. 

Three overhead line poles have been demolished and 500 sleepers have been damaged.

In addition to the derailments, several roads have also been washed away in the region, and in the municipality of Härnösand a person has been taken to hospital after driving into a hole in the road.

The Swedish Transport Administration has listed 40 roads that are destroyed or closed off. 

Swedish vocabulary: avstängda – closed off 

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A thousand Dachshunds take part in Stockholm sausage-dog parade 

On Saturdayt, around 1,000 Dachshunds took part in a sausage-dog parade, or taxparad, wih the organisers boasting that they had “probably set a world record”. 

The previous record for a sausage-dog parade was held by Regensburg in Germany, where at least 897 of the elongated hounds came together.

“It ended up being a lot bigger than we ever could have expected,” said Ami Lauri, one of the arrangers. “Last year it was around 380 Dachshunds.” 

The parade started in Nybroplan and continued to Junibacken, about 1.5 km away.

Swedish vocabulary: ett världsrekord – a world record 

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Heavy rain cuts off villages in northern Sweden

Severe rainfall along parts of Sweden’s northern coast has washed away roads and left residents stranded in their homes. In Holm, north of Skorped in Västernorrland, both roads out of the village are blocked, isolating locals.

“We can’t get anywhere,” resident Mariana Karlsson told local newspaper Örnsköldsviks Allehanda. “The road outside our house looks more like a river. If I try to walk on it, the current is so strong I don’t dare in some places.”

The downpour began on Saturday evening and continued without pause through the night, according to Karlsson.

In nearby Järvberget, some 20 people are stuck after around 100 metres of road were washed away in both directions. “Right now, we’re trapped here,” local resident Thommy Carlson told the paper.

Further south in Härnösand municipality, summer house owner Ove Lindberg told SVT he had “never seen anything like it” in 18 years of spending time by the lake, where water levels rose half a metre overnight.

Local authorities are still assessing the full extent of the damage.

Swedish vocabulary: spolats bort – washed away