Electricity, December 2000

The consumption of electricity in December at 12 453 GWh is the third highest that has been recorded for this month. The decrease in electricity consumption from December in 1999 to December last year can be partially explained by temperatures below normal in December 1999 for most of the country, while the temperature in December 2000 was above normal for almost the whole country. Preliminary figures for 2000 show that the gross consumption of electricity was record high at 123 899 GWh for the whole year. This is an increase of 3 063 GWh or 2.5 per cent compared with the previous record from 1999. The average yearly consumption of electricity the last 10 years has been 115 411 GWh. The average yearly increase in the consumption of electricity in this period was 1.6 per cent, while the average yearly increase in the production was 2.0 per cent.

Production of electricity still high

The production of electricity in December was 13 454 GWh. This is an increase of 2.2 per cent compared with corresponding month in 1999. Preliminary figures for 2000 show a record high production of electricity at 142 954 GWh for the whole year, which is a considerable increase of 17 per cent compared with the previous record from 1995. As a comparison the average yearly electricity production the last 10 years has been 118 456 GWh. The extremely high electricity production last year can be seen in connection with the relatively large trickles of water to the water reservoirs throughout the year. The contents in the water reservoirs were above normal for most of the year.

The contents in the water reservoirs in mid-December were 86.1 per cent of the total capacity. This is 0.1 percentage point higher than the corresponding period in 1999 and 8.0 percentage points higher than the median for this period from 1990 to 1999.

Record high export surplus in 2000

Imports of electricity in December were 264 GWh, while exports were 1 265 GWh, which gives an export surplus of 1 001 GWh. For the whole year imports and exports of electricity were 1 474 GWh and 20 529 GWh respectively. This gives a record high export surplus of electricity of 19 055 GWh. The record high export surplus is 3 107 GWh higher than the previous record from 1990. Net exports of electricity in 2000 to Sweden were 14 845 GWh, while net exports to Denmark were 4 488 GWh. Figures from External Trade in Statistics Norway show that the value of the export surplus in 2000 was 1.8 billion kroner.

Tables:

• Table 1 Production, import, export and consumption of electric energy. GWh. Preliminary figures