Electricity, October 2001

Norway imported 734 GWh of electric energy and exported 679 GWh in October, which means an import surplus of 55 GWh. Export surplus is more normal for this month. The contents in the water reservoirs were between 81.2 and 87.1 per cent of total capacity, which are just below the normal for this time of the year. This change from export to import surplus can be seen in connection with lower trickles of water to the water reservoirs and relatively large demand for electricity. The import surplus covers 0.6 per cent of gross domestic consumption for October.

Less production

Norway normally has a high production of electric energy in the autumn, and the production for October was 9 919 GWh. The average production for this month the last five years was 10 597 GWh. The production this October was 16.3 per cent lower than in October 2000, but this is mainly due to an exceptionally rainy October last year. The total electricity production from January to October this year was 95 675 GWh. This is a decrease of 18.5 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year. The production for the last 12 months was 121 238 GWh.

Decrease in growth of consumption

The consumption of electric energy was 9 974 GWh in October. This is a decrease of 0.2 per cent compared with the same month last year, and it is 2.2 per cent lower than the average for the same month the last five years. There has been a decline in the consumption for the last five months compared with the same months last year. The decrease of consumption these last months can be seen in connection with an increase of the electricity prices and temperatures above normal for this period. The gross domestic consumption the last 12 months was 124 735 GWh, and this is an increase of 0.4 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year.

The consumption in the production of energy intensive manufacturing in October was 2 708 GWh. This is a decrease of 2.2 per cent compared with the same month last year. The consumption the last 12 months was 32 950 GWh, which is an increase of 0.4 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year. The consumption in the production of iron, steel and ferroalloys had a decline of 15.3 per cent compared with October last year, and declined by 10.4 per cent from January to October compared with the same period last year. This can be seen in connection with lower production in this industry.

Tables:

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