Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday 

Record number of job vacancies

A record number of vacancies have been listed on the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration’s (NAV) job portal, arbeidsplassen.no. 

“Already now, at the end of September, we have even more vacancies through this year so far than we had throughout 2019,” Hans Christian Holte, director of NAV, told public broadcaster NRK. 

READ ALSO: Five essential things to know for anyone working in Norway

In the pre-pandemic year of 2019, around 420,000 jobs were listed on the site. This year the figure has already surpassed 433,000. 

Tourism and catering, health sciences, sales and daycare were all industries with the highest demand for Labour. 

BankID down longer than expected          

Users won’t be able to use the electronic identification service BankID until 11am on Thursday. 

The service was originally only meant to be unavailable between midnight Thursday, and 8am due to the service switching operating providers. 

BankID had previously warned its users that its services would face disruption into next week. 

READ MORE: BankID users in Norway to face disruption

Nearly half of consumers feel cheated in their electricity deal 

A survey conducted for the consumer council has revealed that 45 percent of all those who changed electricity contracts more than once have felt cheated by the agreement. 

“Unfortunately, they have every reason to feel cheated,” Inger Lise Blyverket, director of the Consumer Council, told public broadcaster NRK. 

“They themselves say that they are transferred to more expensive agreements. It costs more than they thought, or they are exposed to misleading marketing,” she explained. 

READ ALSO: What times of day should you avoid using electricity in Norway?

Blyverket pointed to companies moving the goalposts by changing people’s fixed price agreements or raising previously agreed price caps as examples of why customers feel conned. 

Government promises lower grid rent

Grid rent, included in electricity prices to cover maintenance and operation of the power grid, will be lowered to make electricity cheaper in the parts of the country where energy prices are highest. 

The government’s policy platform outlined the desire to introduce a geographical equalization of grid rent to make electricity bills cheaper for those paying the most. 

Norway’s new energy minister Marte Mjøs Persen has said the government was working on a system but couldn’t reveal many details. 

“We must at least arrange it so that it benefits people where there are high electricity prices now. But I will need to come back with a more concrete plan,” Persen told newspaper VG. 

657 new Covid-19 cases

On Wednesday, 657 new cases of Covid-19 were registered. This is 245 more infections than the average for the previous seven days. 

Total number of Covid-19 cases in Norway. Source: Norwegian Institute of Public Health.