Continued low electricity production

The production of electricity was 7,743 GWh in June. This is among the lowest levels recorded for this month in the last ten year period. So far this year 58,187 GWh of electricity have been produced. With the exception of last year, this is the lowest level for the 1st half in the last ten years.

The percentage of filling in the reservoirs, however, is relatively high. In the middle of June, on Monday of week 25, the percentage of filling was 63.7 percent of the total reservoir capacity. This is 3.8 percentage points above the median (the average) for this week in the period 1982-1991, and it is 16.9 percentage points above the level for the same week in 1997. Electricity production of 58,187 GWh for the 1st half of this year is the next lowest amount for this period in the last ten years. The percentage of filling has been over the above-mentioned median since the end of February. Hordaland was the county with the highest production both in June and so far this year with 1,000 and 7,268 GWh respectively.

Increased electricity consumption in the power intensive industry

The gross consumption of electricity was 8,029 GWh in June. That was 1.7 percent higher than in the same month last year, but a little lower than in the record year of 1995. So far this year, the consumption is 61,687 GWh, an increase of 4.5 percent over the 1st half of 1997. The consumption in the power intensive industry of 15,147 GWh constituted 24.6 percent of the total consumption so far this year. In relation to the same period a year ago, there was an increase in electricity consumption of fully 6.4 percent. The increase in electricity consumption was greatest in the production of iron, steel and ferroalloys with a 7.8 percent rise, whereas it was 7.1 percent in the production of aluminium and other non-ferrous metals. The electricity consumption in the power intensive industry increased by 6.3 percent to 2,506 GWh from June last year to June this year.

New Statistics

Monthly electricity statistics, June 1998.
These statistics are prepared in co-operation with Nord Pool ASA and the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Administration (NVE) and are published monthly in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. For more information and e-mail, contact: pal.marius.bergh@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 44 20, or ann.christin.boeng@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 47 43. Tables in the annex on page: 19.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 32, 1998