*** Free electricity boon for Norway’s two biggest cities | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Free electricity boon for Norway’s two biggest cities

AFP | Oslo          

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Electricity was free in Norway’s two biggest cities yesterday, market data showed, the silver lining of a wet summer. With power almost exclusively produced from hydro in Norway, the more it rains or snows, the more the reservoirs fill up and the lower the electricity price.

A particularly violent summer storm dubbed “Hans” that swept across Scandinavia in August, in addition to frequent rainfall this summer, have filled reservoirs in parts of Norway.

As a result, the spot price of electricity before taxes and grid fees, was expected to hover between 0 and -0.3 kroner (-0.03 US cents) yesterday in the capital Oslo and the second biggest city, Bergen, according to specialised news site Europower.

On Nord Pool, Europe’s leading power market, wholesale electricity prices in the two cities yesterday averaged -1.42 euros per megawatt hour. A negative price means electricity companies pay consumers to use their production.