Electricity, April 2007

Large amounts of snow in the mountains and a high flow to the reservoirs may have contributed to the high production. Based on observations from the weather stations, the precipitation for Norway was 165 per cent of the normal precipitation in April. The filling in the reservoirs was somewhat below the median at the beginning of the month, while it was 3.9 percentage points above at the end of April.

Low consumption of electricity

Gross domestic consumption of electricity (total production subtracted consumption in energy-intensive manufacturing) in April came to 10 183 GWh, a decline of 2.5 per cent compared with the same month last year. The consumption in energy-intensive manufacturing amounted roughly to a quarter of the total gross domestic consumption and came to 2 635 GWh. This is 1.6 per cent lower than the average for April in the period 2000-2006.

The consumption in the category “Gross domestic consumption subtracted consumption in energy-intensive manufacturing” was 7 548 GWh in April, a decrease of 3.2 per cent compared with the corresponding month last year. The high temperature throughout the month may have affected the fall in the consumption of electricity. The average temperature for Norway was 2.0 degrees above the normal in April, while it was 1.1 degrees above the normal last year.

A large drop in the electricity price on Nord Pool

Since August 2006, when the average elspot system price was 53.1 øre/KWh, the electricity price has fallen every month except of a small increase in February. The decrease continued in April and May as well, and the average elspot price of the Nordic power exchange Nord Pool was 18.2 øre/KWh and 17.4 øre/KWh respectively. The elspot system price is often called a reference price since changes in this price will eventually affect the contracts of the end users (households, service industry etc).

Shift from net import to net export

Norway had an import of 709 GWh in April, while we exported 793 GWh. Compared with April last year a shift from net import to net export has taken place.

See also

Prices of electric energy

Tables:

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