Electricity, November 2003

Gross consumption of power was 10 665 GWh in November - a decrease of 10.7 per cent from 2002. Average gross consumption has been 11 187 GWh in November in the last 5 years. The temperature in Norway was 2.6 centigrade above normal in November and the consumers used more alternative energy sources as a result of the high power prices. These facts explain the low consumption.

The consumption outside power-intensive manufacturing decreased by 15.6 per cent, while power-intensive manufacturing increased the consumption by 8.7 per cent. The production of power was 9 953 GWh - a decrease of 17 per cent from 2002. In mid November the reservoir level was in 67.0 per cent of total capacity, while the median is 87.7 per cent. More than 99 per cent of the production of electricity in Norway is based on water sources. Low reservoir levels will bring down the supply of power from the producers. Later on in the winter, the price for deliverance of power was higher than the price in November. Due to this situation the producers may have kept away some of the production. There were net imports in November, exports were 347 GWh and imports 1 060 GWh.

Improvement in the power market

The average power price in the gross marked on the Nordic power exchange Nordpool increased from NOK 0.289/KWh in October to NOK 0.297/KWh in November. The reservoir level reduces strongly in the winter as a result of less trickle of water. Simultaneously the need for heating increases the consumption. The weather in December was humid and warm. Norway got 170 per cent of normal precipitation and the temperature was 2 centigrade above than normal. In mid November the reservoir level was 20.7 percentages points below the median, while it was 16.5 percentages points below the median at the turn of the year. The positive development in the power balance contributed to a lower power price in December. The average price in December was NOK 0.256/KWh. At the same time the price for delivering of power in the future decreased strongly. The price for the months January-April was above NOK 0.40/KWh in November, while it was NOK 0.26/KWh at the turn of the year.

Tables:

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