Electricity prices

Prices of electric energy exclusive of public taxes (user tax on electricity, value added tax and subsidies to Enova) and electricity support and exclusive of grid rent . This is explained in more detail in the annotations in the tables. The statistics then only covers the part of the electricity supply exposed for competition.

Grid rent: The customer is charged for transmission of the electricity by the local grid company. The average country-wide grid rent is fetched from the NVE webpage on grid rents. Monthly country-wide grid rent from NVE is then aggregated up to quarterly data using household electricity consumption per month as weights. The source for monthly electricity consumption for households is the monthly electricity statistics in Statistics Norway. Note that the average grid rent for a specific period may change because of revisions made by one or more of the grid companies delivering grid rent data to NVE.

Taxes for households consists of tax on consumption of electricity, value added tax (VAT) and subsidies to Enova. All counties in Norway have the same tax rate for the consumption of electricity, apart from some parts of Troms and the whole of Finnmark, which are exempt. The Enova tax was 1 øre/kWh in 2021 and is the same for all households throughout the country. VAT is added after electricity price, grid rent and other taxes have been added. Nordland, Troms and Finnmark are exempt from VAT.

Electricity support: The Norwegian government launched a temporary electricity support package for households from December 2021 . The electricity support shown in the tables is the weighted average electricity support for the whole country. Quarterly electricity support is calculated by taking the weighted average of the hourly electricity support. To calculate the wieghts, Statistics Norway collect hourly household electricity consumption per spot price area from Elhub. Information about the hourly electricity support is collected from NVE (the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate).

Spot price: Nord Pool Spot is the marketplace for physical power contracts. On Nord Pool Spot the electricity spot price is set for Norway.

Wholesale market: Electricity producers, electricity suppliers and some industrial enterprises buy and sell power in large quantity primarily for re-sale to end users.

End-user market: Customers that buy electricity for their own consumption directly from an electricity supplier.

Type of contracts in the end-user market

Fixed price contracts. All contracts where the price is fixed or where the price is linked to a fixed price path are regarded as fixed price contracts. Contracts tied to a price index are also included in the fixed price category.

Contracts tied to the spot price: Includes all contracts derived from the elspot price. This category also includes contracts tied to spot price with an overhead charge or price ceiling. Markups and price ceilings are included in the average price.

Variable price contracts: A type of contract where the price varies during the year, mostly depending on market conditions. For a standard variable contract, the supplier may freely choose the price and its duration provided that any price change is announced to its customers at least 14 days in advance.

Contracts not entered in the market: Price contracts that are not determined by the market. For instance, contracts sold at cost-price or contracts where the state or a municipality sets a price that is higher or lower than the market price.

Type of contracts in the wholesale market

Fixed price contracts. All contracts where the price is fixed or where the price is linked to a fixed price path are regarded as fixed price contracts. Contracts tied to a price index are also included in the fixed price category. Fixed price contracts are divided into full time and free time. Costumers with free-time fixed price contracts can choose electricity consumption freely during the contract period, while customers with full-time contracts have to distribute the consumption evenly.

Spot prices and regulating power prices: Volumes traded in the elspot and balancing power market.

Contracts not entered in the market: Price contracts that are not determined by the market. For instance, contracts sold at cost-price or contracts where the state or a municipality sets a price that is higher or lower than the market price.

The standard for sector classification (NACE) is used when dividing prices between the electricity consumer groups. It is also split between different types of contracts for buying and selling electricity.

This division is found in the tables of the statistics.

Name: Electricity prices
Topic: Energy and manufacturing

Division for Business Cycle Statistics

Only national level.

Quarterly.

Half-yearly statistics delivered according to EU regulation 2016/1952.

Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.

Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.

The statistics for prices of electric energy is a quarterly statistics covering prices in the end-user market and wholesale market with information about the factual development of the prices of electric energy. The statistics was started the first quarter of 1998. The measuring period was only one day per quarter then. From the second quarter 1998 the measuring period was increased to one week in the middle of the quarter, in addition to a change in the questionnaire used for collecting data. In the first quarter of 2012 the measuring period was extended to cover the whole quarter. In addition som changes were made in the household fixed price contracts.

The statistics are used by the public authorities, firms, organizations and the general public to follow the development in the market for electric energy. Different analyses institutions and branch organizations also use the statistics and some electricity suppliers use the statistics when they set their own prices.

No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.

Tables showing electricity prices in the wholesale market and the end-user market are available in Business statistics for the electricity industry and quarterly electricity price statistics. The quarterly electricity price statistics are based on a sample of about 40 enterprises in the wholesale and end-user market, and are released around one and a half months after the end of the quarter. Annual electricity statistics include all the enterprises in the population, and are released about 12 months after the reference year.

The quarterly electricity price statistics have the most up-to-date electricity prices and provide information about different types of price contracts (spot price, variable price and fixed price). The annual electricity statistics are more detailed and the data source covers the whole population.

Internally the statistics is used in the quarterly national account and in the producer price index. The statistics is also used to calculate half-yearly electricity prices reported to Eurostat. Preliminary yearly average prices are calculated from the quarterly statistics.

The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).

Directive 90/377/EEC

The population includes companies within electricity supply, which means division 35.1 in the Norwegian Standard Industrial Classification. Data is collected from a sample from this population.

Own survey for quarterly electricity prices.

The statistics are made from information from a sample of about 40 electricity suppliers in the wholesale market and 45 electricity suppliers in the end-user market. The sample is made to cover as good as possible both large and small electricity plants, different geographical areas, and different consumer groups the electricity plants sell electricity to. About 16 per cent of the units of the population are included in the sample, but because the largest companies are included the ratio of the total quantity is about 60 per cent.

The survey is based on electronic questionnaires collected via Altinn, About 95 per cent of the responses are returned via Altinn. Reminders are done by e-mail and phone. The response rate is about 98 per cent.

Maximum and minimum values are controlled. To some extent the figures are also compared with previous reported data for each of the electricity plants. Decimal- and thousand separators and denomination are controlled thorough. The prices are compared with the spot prices of electricity at Nord Pool. Reported quantities are somethimes compared with reported quantities in the yearly electricity statistics and Energy use in the manufacturing sector.

Missing questionnaires are not imputated. Quantities sold and average prices are collected for different types of contracts and consumer groups. Weighted average prices and measures of dispersion are made from this.

Employees of Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality.

Statistics Norway does not publish figures if there is a risk of the respondent’s contribution being identified. This means that, as a general rule, figures are not published if fewer than three units form the basis of a cell in a table or if the contribution of one or two respondents constitutes a very large part of the cell total.

Statistics Norway can make exceptions to the general rule if deemed necessary to meet the requirements of the EEA agreement, if the respondent is a public authority, if the respondent has consented to this, or when the information disclosed is openly accessible to the public.

More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.

The quarterly statistics for electricity prices started in 1st quarter 1998. A change was made in the questionnaire from the 1st to the 2nd quarter that year. After that period there where no changes in the statistics until 1st quarter 2012.

From 1st quarter 2012 and onwards the measuring periode increased from one week in the midle of each quarter to covering the whole quarter. Data published after the 1st quarter 2012 is still comparable with earlier quarters.

As from the fourth quarter of 2019 the grid rent without taxes does not include enova tax. As from the same period a double registration of the enova tax of 1 øre per kWh in the grid rent including taxes has been corrected.

The Norwegian government launched a temporary electricity support package for households from December 2021. From the 4th quarter of 2021 and onwards, data on average electricity support is included in the electricity price statistics. From september 2023 there was a change in how electricity support was calulated by the government, using information about hourly spot price level instead of the average monthly spot price. From 3. quarter 2023, the electricity support in the electricity price statistics is calculated from the hourly electricity support level published by NVE, using hourly houshold electricity consumption from Elhub as weights.

Collection errors may occur in the data due to oblivion, misunderstandings, etc. Processing errors may occur in the exercise of the quality controls. Misunderstandings of the variables and valuations by the units in the samlple may lead to uncertainty in the figures from the survey.

The prices are supposed to be reported without public taxes. If someone don't know this the prices can be too high. But the prices are also supposed to be reported inclusive of possible fixed part of the price. If someone don't know this the prices can be too low.

Missing questionnaires are not imputated. The response rate is about 98 per cent.

A revision is a planned change to figures that have already been published, for example when releasing final figures as a follow-up to published preliminary figures. See also Statistics Norway’s principles for revisions.

The figures are not revised after the release of the statistics.