Major decline in power consumption and production

Norway's production of electricity in January this year totalled 9,824 GWh, fully 28 per cent less than the same month last year. Overall power consumption went down by about 10 per cent from January last year, mainly due to the large increase in electricity prices in combination with somewhat milder than normal weather in January. From 1 January 1996 to 1 January 1997 electricity prices jumped 20 per cent, or by 10 øre/kWh.

Power production in January was the lowest for this month since 1981. In counties with high power production, over 10,000 GWh per year, production dropped the most in Sogn og Fjordane, Rogaland and Nordland. Production here went down respectively 40, 35 and 32 per cent from the same month the year before. Imports of electricity were quite high again in January, totalling 1,781 GWh. About 70 percent of all imports came from Sweden while the remainder was imported mainly from Denmark. Some electricity was imported from Finland and Russia.

New Statistics

Monthly electricity statistics, January 1997.
Statistics are compiled in cooperation with the Norwegian Power Grid Company and the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Administration, and are published monthly in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. They are also available in the Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Monthly Bulletin of Statistics. More information: Ann Christin Bøeng, tel. +47 21 09 47 43, e-mail: abg@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 10, 1997