Electricity was expected to become free in Norway’s two largest cities on a Monday, as experts had foreseen, marking the silver lining of a wet summer. In Norway, where power was primarily generated from hydro sources, the more rainfall or snowfall occurred, the more the reservoirs filled up, leading to lower electricity prices.
This situation was significantly influenced by a particularly violent summer storm known as “Hans,” which had swept across Scandinavia in August. This storm resulted in the filling of dams in certain regions of Norway.
As a result, the spot price of electricity, excluding taxes and grid fees, was anticipated to remain within the range of 0 to -0.3 kroner (-0.03 US cents) on that Monday in both the capital city, Oslo, and the second-largest city, Bergen. This information was reported by the specialized news site Europower.
In this context, a negative price indicated that electricity companies were paying consumers to utilize their electricity production. Electricity producers had often emphasized the advantage of continuing production during periods of slightly negative prices rather than implementing measures to halt production, as reported by the site.
Despite certain regions of the country experiencing a slightly negative spot price, given its division into multiple price zones, companies had still found opportunities to profit through green electricity certificates.
Europower reported that this marked the second occasion when electricity prices had dipped into negative territory in certain parts of Norway. The initial occurrence had taken place on August 8 following the impact of the “Hans” storm.
