Lysaker, 29 September 2005 Nord Pool has received the following information from the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE): The filling level in the Norwegian and Swedish hydropower reservoirs is now roughly 90 percent. This means that many reservoirs are full. At the same time, the inflow to the reservoirs was above normal in week 38. This contributed to a falling spot price from week 37 to 38. Especially during the parts of the week with low demand for electricity, the prices fell, and early Sunday morning, the spot price fell below 10 NOK/MWh during one hour. In week 38, all the Nordic price areas, except Jutland, had prices below the German spot prices in almost every single hour. There was an almost continuous flow of electricity from Sweden and Denmark to Germany and Poland in week 38. All in all, the Nordic net electricity exchange was in balance, as Finland as usual had considerable import from Russia. At the start of week 39, the filling level in the Norwegian hydropower reservoirs were 88.8 percent, which is 0.5 percentage points above normal. The high filling level is partly caused by an inflow of approximately 17 TWh above normal so far this year. In Sweden, the reservoir filling level is 90.1 percent. The average price among the dominating suppliers offering standard variable contracts fell by 0.007 NOK/kWh during the week. The price offered for week 41 is then 0,358 NOK/MWh. For week 38, this price was 0.361 NOK/MWh. A spot price contract with a markup of 0.025 NOK/kWh would give a price of 0.301 NOK/kWh for week 38. ------------------------------- Contact person at the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate: Nils Spjeldnæs NVE, tel: +47 2295 9274