Electricity, February 2001

The record high consumption of electricity in February was up 6.2 per cent compared with the same month last year. The electricity consumption in other sectors than the energy-intensive manufacturing was also record high at 9 982 GWh. This is an increase of 7.7 per cent from February last year to February this year, and this is an increase of 2.3 per cent compared with the previous record for this month. The large increase from February last year to February this year must be seen in connection with temperatures below normal for February 2001, while the temperatures were above the normal for the same period last year.

The consumption of electricity for a single hour reached a new record high in February. The new record high consumption for a single hour is now 23.1 GWh and was reached the 5 February. The new record is nearly 1.8 GWh higher than the previous record from January 1996. The high consumption can be seen in connection with cold weather and high general demand for electricity, which resulted in higher electricity spot prices.

The consumption of electricity in the production of intensive-energy manufacturing in February was 2 698 GWh, which is an increase of 1.0 per cent compared the same month last year.

The production of electricity remains high

The production of electricity in February at 12 522 GWh remains high even if the production of electricity was down 0.1 per cent compared with the same month last year. The contents in the water reservoirs in mid-February were 59.9 per cent of the total capacity. This is 5.1 percentage points lower than the corresponding period last year and 2.1 percentage points higher than the median for this period from 1990 to 1999.

Net import surplus of electricity

Norway imported 158 GWh more electricity in February than we exported. The net import surplus can be seen in connection with the high demand for electricity, especially in the first half of February. The high demand for electricity gave higher electricity prices, which turned to higher imports of electricity from Denmark and Sweden. Imports of electricity in February were 631 GWh and exports were 472 GWh.

Tables:

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