The price of electricity for households, including grid rent and taxes, but without deduction for electricity support, was on average 134,9 øre/kWh in 2024, according to new figures from the electricity price statistics.
Of the total price of electricity, the actual electricity price was 59,9 øre/kWh, the grid rent was 36,0 øre/kWh, and taxes were 39,0 øre/kWh. With deduction for electricity support the average household price was 127,5 øre/kWh. In 2020 the average household electricity price was 80,3 øre/kWh, but since then the price has not dropped below 120 øre/kWh.
Due to lower electricity spot price, the average deduction for electricity support dropped from 24,3 øre/kWh in 2023 to 7,4 øre/kWh in 2024. This is the lowest level of electricity deduction since 2021.
– Electricity support payments were at their highest during the winter months, especially in January 2024. There was very little in the third quarter of the year, and most of the payments were made in the southern part of the country, says Statistics Norway advisor Ståle Skrede.
The electricity support deduction was implemented in December 2021. With this support households get a part of their electricity costs reimbursed (nve.no). Until September 2023 this reimbursement was based on the monthly average electricity price, but as from September 1st, 2023, it is based on the hourly electricity price.
The grid rent for households increased by 15 percent from 2023 to 2024. This is the highest level recorded for grid rent in this statistic.
Most of the larger electricity distribution companies have increased the customer grid rent during 2024. The reasons given for the increase have been higher electricity costs, higher cost of capital, price increases in goods and services, higher investments and lower bottleneck revenues.
Fall in prices excluding grid rent and taxes
The electricity price for households, excluding taxes and grid rent, and without deducting electricity support, fell from 86,0 øre/kWh in 2023 to 59,9 øre/kWh in 2024, a reduction of 30 percent. For service industries, the average electricity price (excluding taxes and grid rent) decreased by 31 percent from 2023, from 80,0 to 55,1 øre/kWh. Statistics also show a corresponding decline in electricity prices for industries outside of power-intensive industries. Here, the price fell from 76,5 to 54,5 øre/kWh. For all these categories of end-users, we must go back to the year 2020 to find a lower electricity price.
For power-intensive industries, the average electricity price in 2024 was 41,2 øre/kWh, excluding taxes and grid rent, a decrease of 10,4 percent. Much of the electricity in power-intensive industries is purchased through long-term fixed-price contracts, which were entered into at a lower price than in recent years. Therefore, the electricity price in power-intensive industries has not followed the same trend as in other industries.
Southwest-Norway’s spot price double that of Northern Norway
In the electricity spot market, the year 2024 was also characterized by significant regional price differences, although the price disparity between Due to insufficiencies in the grid transmission capacity, it is not always possible to balance production and consumption of electricity across the entire country. Therefore, the Norwegian power system is divided into five price areas. NO1: Southeast-Norway, NO2: Southwest-Norway, NO3: Mid-Norway, NO4: North-Norway, NO5 West-Norway has decreased since 2022. The The spot market price is derived from the Nordic power exchange (Nord Pool AS) from the participants’ combined demand and supply for electricity the next day. The price and volume are determined for each hour of the day. The spot price can vary between the different bidding areas depending on market conditions. Norway is normally divided into five price areas (NO1-NO5). in Northern and Central Norway has generally been below the spot price further south in the country throughout the year. The southernmost price area, NO2, had the highest spot prices throughout 2024. Across the country, there was a downward trend in the spot price until the third quarter of last year. In Southern Norway, the spot price increased from the third to the fourth quarter. Central Norway (NO3) saw a flat development, while in the north, the spot price decreased from the third to the fourth quarter.
Looking at the year as a whole, the spot price in Southwest-Norway (NO2) was approximately 20 percent higher than in Southeast-Norway (NO1) and more than double that in North-Norway (NO4). This can be seen in connection with good export capacity from NO2 to abroad, where prices were higher, while the capacity to transfer electricity from the other price areas into NO2 was not sufficient to equalize the price difference.
Resource situation in 2024
2024 saw a significant strengthening of the overall reservoir balance in Norway (nve.no). At the start of the year, the total reservoir volume was well below the median for the last 20 years. By the end of the year, the reservoir level was a full 10 percentage points above the median. In the latter half of 2024, there was considerable precipitation and high levels of inflow to the reservoirs, especially in Central and Northern Norway. Total electricity production increased by 2,1 percent in 2024 to 157,2 TWh. This is the highest production level recorded in Norway.
Fall in electricity prices for variable price contracts
The price of For contracts of this type, the electric utility companies are under obligation to notify the consumer of any price changes at least a fortnight ahead of the actual price change. This means that the price is locked for a period of at least fourteen days. fell for all categories of end-users in 2024 compared to the previous year. For households, the price of such contracts decreased from 139,2 to 111,5 øre/kWh. For service industries, the price dropped from 122,1 to 82,9 øre/kWh, and for industries excluding power-intensive industries, from 110,0 to 75,0 øre/kWh.
Compared to other types of contracts, variable price contracts remain by far the most expensive option for households. For households, variable price contracts were on average 90 percent more expensive than spot market contracts.
At the same time, the proportion of households purchasing such contracts is low and has significantly decreased since 2021. The share of household electricity consumption under variable price contracts fell from a peak of 22 percent in the third quarter of 2021 to 2,3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Spot price and fixed-price contracts
For households, contracts linked to the spot price are the most common type of contract. In the last quarter of 2024, this type of contract accounted for 94,7 percent of the electricity consumption in the country's households. On average, spot market contracts cost 58,6 øre/kWh in 2024. This represents a decrease of 31 percent from 2023.
The prices for different types of fixed-price contracts for households in 2024 were:
- New fixed-price contracts with up to 1-year duration: 34,7 øre/kWh
- New fixed-price contracts with over 1-year duration: 50,3 øre/kWh
- Older fixed-price contracts: 52,0 øre/kWh
The proportion of electricity consumption covered by fixed-price contracts has been declining for households since electricity prices started to rise sharply towards the end of 2021. Many electricity supply companies seem to have been cautious about offering new fixed-price deals due to uncertainty about future price developments. However, the figures for 2024 show that the share of household electricity consumption covered by fixed-price contracts has stabilized, now remaining steady at around 3 percent. Most new fixed-price agreements appear to have been entered into in the price area of Northern Norway (NO4).
