Electricity prices increase for households

The overall price of electricity for households, including grid rent and taxes, was on average 95 øre per kWh in the second quarter of 2017, according to figures from the statistic Electricity prices. This is over 7 per cent higher compared to the second quarter in 2016, which was a quarter of low electricity prices.

Of the overall price of electricity in the second quarter of 2017, the grid rent amounted to 27.9 øre per kWh, taxes 34 øre per kWh and the price of electricity to 33.1 øre per kWh.

According to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), the main reason for the increase in electricity prices in the second quarter of 2017, compared with the previous year, is that the Norwegian reservoir filling rate was lower at the start of the period this year. However, this improved over the period and was at about the same level as the previous year at the end of the quarter.

Contracts with variable price were most expensive

Households with variable price contracts had the most expensive contract type in the second quarter of 2017, with an average electricity price of 36.5 øre per kWh, excluding taxes and grid rent. For households with contracts tied to the spot price, which is the most common type of contract, the average electricity price was 32.1 øre per kWh.

New fixed-price contracts lasting up to one year had the cheapest contract type in the second quarter of 2017. The average electricity price for these was 30 øre / kWh. Few households receive power through fixed-price contracts, and these contracts represent a very low proportion of total power consumption.