Weekly Bulletin issue no. 49, 1996

Substantial decline in electricity consumption and production

In October, Norway's gross consumption of electricity totalled 8,783 GWh, down 10 per cent from the same month last year. Production of electricity totalled 7,184 GWh, a decline of 30 per cent from the same month last year. Imports totalled 1,767 GWh, and covered 20 per cent of the consumption this month.

The lower consumption in October is probably connected to the high price of electricity combined with relatively mild weather this month. The average spot price for electricity in October was 28 øre per kWh, while in the same month last year it was around 10 øre/kWh. Consumption in power-intensive industries was 2,325 GWh in October, down 3.4 per cent from the same month last year. The decline was the largest in the production of iron, steel and ferroalloys, which dropped 14 per cent from the same month the year before. Gross consumption includes consumption in the ordinary electricity supply, power-intensive industries, as well as line network losses, pumped storage consumption and the electric plants' own consumption of electricity. The decline in the gross consumption in October can in part be due to lower network losses, pumped storage consumption and internal consumption of electricity by power plants. This was reduced in the third quarter of this year to respectively 13, 78 and 30 per cent compared to the same period last year.

New Statistics

Monthly electricity statistics, October 1996. Statistics are compiled in cooperation with the Norwegian Power Grid Company and the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Administration, and are published monthly in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. They are also available in the Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Monthly Bulletin of Statistics. More information: Ann Christin Bøeng, tel. +47 21 09 47 43, e-mail: abg@ssb.no.
Weekly Bulletin issue no. 49, 1996