Electricity prices, Q3 2000

Services paid an average of 12 øre/kWh for electric energy in the third quarter of this year. Fixed-price contracts are more common in services than for households. This is the reason why the price of electricity for services is higher than for households in the summer. For manufacturing, excluding energy-intensive manufacturing and the paper industry, the electricity price was 13 øre/kWh in the third quarter of this year. The price of electricity was 14.2 øre/kWh for energy-intensive manufacturing and the paper industry. Old fixed-price contracts entered into before the price of electricity fell in the last couple of years helped to keep the electricity prices for energy-intensive manufacturing and the paper industry up.

Contracts tied to spot price cheapest

The price of electricity for contracts tied to the spot price fluctuate considerably throughout the year, but have proven to be the cheapest in recent years. Customers who buy electricity in this way have had the lowest electricity price in all three quarters so far this year. This was the cheapest on average in 1998 and 1999 as well. In the third quarter of this year the price of electricity for contracts tied to the spot price was 10.1 øre/kWh for households. For services the price of electricity was 9 øre/kWh, while it was 8.5 øre/kWh for manufacturing excluding energy-intensive manufacturing and the paper industry. Tax on consumption of 8.56 øre/kWh and 23 per cent VAT must be added to the total.

In 1999 contracts tied to the spot price for households was on average 2 øre/kWh lower than variable price, which is the most usual way of purchasing electricity for households. If this difference is sustained this year too, a household that has to pay taxes and consumes 20 000 kWh per year will save NOK 503 this year.

Small margins in wholesale market

The average price of electric energy traded in the wholesale market was 8.9 øre/kWh in the third quarter of this year. This is 6.7 per cent lower than in third quarter 1999. Average price in the wholesale market to obtain electricity by purchases of electricity and own power production, was 9.7 øre/kWh in the third quarter of this year. This is a reduction of only 1.4 per cent from the same quarter last year. Although there is some uncertainty about the data on costs of own power production, a negative margin of 0.8 øre/kWh gives an indication of margins under pressure in the wholesale market. In 1998 and 1999 the margin was an average of 0.9 øre/kWh.

Tables:

• Table 1 Electricity prices in the end-user market, quarterly. øre/kWh
• Table 2 Electricity prices in the wholesale market, quarterly. øre/kWh
• Table 3 Range of electricity prices in end-user market and distribution of sold quantity in the sample