Now electricity prices are taking off completely! On Friday morning, electricity cost more than two kroner per kilowatt hour (kWh) for consumers in southern Norway.
The pure spot price is NOK 1.53 per kWh for southern Norway on Friday 17 September. With grid rent and fees, this gives prices of more than two kroner per kWh. It is the highest ever at this time of year.
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Clearly cheaper
The price of firewood has also risen in recent years, but it is still by far the cheapest energy source.
If you buy firewood in larger quantities – 1000-liter sacks or pallets, the price is a little over a kroner per kilowatt, Norske Varme writes in a press release. In other words, heating can cost around half of what you pay for electricity. If electricity prices rise even more, the savings will be higher.
When Dinside wrote about what it cost to fire with firewood in 2019, it turned out that a sack with 1000 liters of wood would provide heat equivalent to 1300 kWh when we take into account both air in the sack and the efficiency of a typical wood stove. The prices of firewood of course vary around, but a quick price check (17 September 2021) shows that you can count on prices of around a thousand kroner for 1000 liters if you pick up the wood yourself, which will then give you a kWh price of about 80 øre if we disregard the cost of retrieving it.
Suggests removing requirements
However, the government has sent out a proposal that there should be no requirement for a chimney in new homes.
– Wood burning is the only thing that always provides heat, even when the power goes out. In addition to the coziness, there is great preparedness, and also good finances for the households. If it does not continue to be a standard, only those with good advice will get a fireplace in the home of the future, says Brede Børud, chairman of the board of Norsk Varme.
Checklist for wood burning
Wants a national ban
Earlier this year we wrote that Norsk Varme, the industry organization for environmentally friendly fireplaces, wants a national ban against wood burning in old stoves to reduce emissions.
They point out that over 40 percent of Norwegian homes have an old stove in use, according to figures from Norstat.
According to Norsk Varme, Norway and Scandinavia are also at the forefront of developing the world’s most clean-burning stoves, which provide a considerable reduction in the amount of airborne dust.
At the same time, they believe that wood burning is necessary both in terms of emergency preparedness, since many Norwegians have no other alternatives beyond the use of electricity, and due to the electricity capacity.
As electricity prices are now, wood burning is also the cheapest option for heating.
Can be sold out
Nations reports today that the high electricity prices have accelerated wood sales.
– We still expect some use of home office this winter, a little more ahead of time with the corona. So if it gets cold, we expect a demand above normal for a cold winter. Then it may be empty of Norwegian wood again, says Sveinung Moesgaard Skjesol at Oslo Vedsentral to the newspaper.
The building materials chain Obs Bygg has ordered almost two million sacks of firewood and almost 400,000 boxes of heating briquettes, thus preparing for a winter season with high demand.
The dissemination service Short journey by reports that demand is high during the day, and that they envisage selling for twice what they did last year.
Are you struggling to light a fire in the fireplace? Here’s how you can quickly get fired:
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