Electricity, November 2010

The record high consumption must be seen in light of the very cold weather in November. Households, services and manufacturing other than the power-intensive account for the majority of the electricity consumption excluding power intensive manufacturing. Much of this electricity is used for heating.

Low electricity consumption in power-intensive manufacturing

Electricity consumption in power intensive manufacturing came to 2 354 GWh in November; 4.5 per cent higher compared with the corresponding month in 2009. Nevertheless, the consumption in November is the third lowest level recorded for the month in the period 1993-2010. This may be due to the fact that power intensive manufacturing has not recovered fully after the financial crisis.

Lower electricity production

The production of electricity amounted to 12 121 GWh in November; 2.4 per cent lower compared with the same month in 2009. The reduction can be viewed in conjunction with lower filling in the reservoir level in 2010. According to NVE, the reservoir level was 61.0 per cent at the end of week 47. This is 2.5 and 21.8 percentage points below the minimum level and the median level for the same week in the period 1990-2007 respectively.

Net imports of power

Norway’s imports of electricity came to 1 202 GWh in November, while exports totalled 632 GWh. This gave net imports of 570 GWh.

Tables:

• Table 1 Electricity balance. Monthly. GWh
• Table 2 Production of electricity, on county level. GWh
• Table 3 Consumption excluding power-intensive manufacturing, seasonal and non-seasonal growth from previous month. Per Cent