Electricity, March 2003

The trend from earlier this winter with high imports and low production continued in March. Imports and exports were 1,924 and 204 GWh respectively. This results in net imports of 1,720 GWh, which constitute 16.3 per cent of the total consumption in Norway. The production decreased by 24.7 per cent compared with the corresponding month in 2002. During the first three months in 2003 the production was 29,688 GWh, a decrease of 19.4 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year. This may be related to low levels of water in the reservoirs and less precipitation than normal. The precioitation in Norway was 85 per cent of the normal from November 2002 to March 2003 according to the Meteorological Office. The precipitation in Western Norway was considerable less than normal, while Nord - Trøndelag, southern Nordland and the coastal areas of Troms and Finnmark were slightly above normal. Some of this precipitation will contribute to replenish the reservoirs beyond the summer together with new precipitation. The question is how the reservoir levels develop beyond the summer and forward into the winter months. The reservoir levels increased for the first time last week (30 April) since September last year. Yesterday (7 May) the reservoir levels increased by 0.7 percentage points and are now 19.4 per cent of the total reservoir capacity.

Low consumption

The gross consumption in March was 10,623 GWh, a decrease of 8.9 per cent compared with the corresponding month last year. Higher temperature than normal and high prices in March contributed to the low consumption. The consumption in power-intensive manufacturing was 2,421 GWh against 2,705 in March 2002.

See also

Reservoir level

Prices of electric energy

Tables:

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