During the spring of 2025, the Swedish Electricity Market Inquiry “Spänning i tillvaron” was underway. And it was only one of several ongoing policy changes, each with the potential to more or less reshape the Swedish electricity market. For one industry stakeholder, with technology neutrality and market functionality as core priorities, the need emerged to clarify and communicate the consequences of these interventions, both as individual policies and as a combination with previously adopted regulation. The analysis would be the basis for the pending consultation process with the government, and needed to articulate and visualise the different implications.
To ensure wider impact, the effects the policies will have on the complex energy system had to be translated into something comprehensible and usable, both in stakeholder dialogues and in debates. Sigholm was therefore commissioned to produce a strategic basis for the consultation response, which also could serve as a tool for advocacy, internal alignment, and communication. The analysis needed to be firmly grounded in the underlying complexity, whilst still being accessible to multiple target groups – from energy experts to political decision-makers.
When Policy Meets Market – and Not Everyone Fits in the Glass: Developing an Impactful Narrative
The work was anchored in five central principles derived from the Electricity Market Inquiry: technology neutrality, long-term perspective, system benefits, market integration, and impact assessment. In dialogue with the customer, these were developed into analysis, visualisations, and quantified scenario examples.
Two key illustrations became central:
- The Water Glass – demonstrating how selective subsidies may crowd out private investment.
- The Four-Quadrant Model – clarifying how the investment climate is affected by subsidies and political uncertainty
Combined with scenarios and quantitative calculations on welfare losses, reduced electricity production, and effects on the tax base, the result was a foundation that proved useful in several contexts. The client described how the report strengthened the clarity of their own positions and could be used in internal discussions, consultation drafting, and conversations with external stakeholders.
From Response to Dialogue – A Tool for Strategy and Influence
The delivered material provided the client with:
- A concrete decision-making basis for the consultation process.
- Visual tools for communicating complex effects in a pedagogical way.
- A narrative and structure to use in both internal discussions and external advocacy efforts.
- A deeper understanding of how the electricity market is affected by policy instruments beyond the obvious impacts.
The project contributed to greater confidence in the organisation’s own stance and to articulating it in a way that other stakeholders could also relate to. It also became a catalyst for building alliances with other stakeholders in the energy sector. In short: what began as a consultation document became a tool for change.
