Mild winter temperatures and lots of wind have meant that electricity prices have remained at stable levels in recent weeks.
And compared to the prices we have had in the past year, there have also been low prices. So far in February, it is likely that the electricity subsidy will be just over fifty.
The reasons are many: In Sweden reported Swedish power grid on Monday that the fear of power rationing this winter is over. Water reservoirs in Norway are around normal. Fears of energy shortages in Europe for the winter have been low for many weeks. The supply of gas is better than feared.
We now have to go back to the beginning of December 2021 to find gas prices as low as now. On Monday, the gas price falls a further four per cent, and thus the price for gas power is also significantly lower than before.
Nor do the electricity speculators on the Nasdaq exchange have any particular faith in higher prices going forward, where prices will fall by a handful of percent on Monday.
The only thing that really points in the “wrong” direction is that the allowance price for CO₂ recently set a new record.
Camel prices
Despite all this good news, electricity prices will rise on Tuesday. The reason is mainly low wind in southern parts of the North Sea, and over large parts of mainland Europe.
According to Montel News, one is partly saved by cloudless weather, where solar power is starting to become significant again.
But there is little sun during the “rush hour” in the morning and early evening. This means that there will be two clear price peaks in the east and south-west of Norway. For the first time in over a week, there will thus be two periods in which it can be very profitable to save electricity.
Western Norway, on the other hand, escapes the price contagion, and thus gets average prices that are 20 per cent lower.
As usual, in the two northernmost current areas there will be a completely different price level than south of Dovre.
Exports in large quantities
The fact that the fear of electricity shortages is now practically gone, while people believe in falling prices in the future, means that Norway currently exports a lot of electricity.
Figures from the power exchange Nordpool show that exports are running at close to full capacity to both England, Denmark and Germany, while a great deal of electricity is also going to the Netherlands and southern Sweden.
- England: 32 GWh net export
- Germany: 33.3 GWh export
- Denmark: 27.7 GWh export
- Netherlands: 12.3 GWh export
- Sweden (SE3): 25.9 GWh export
