Nord Pool has received the following information from the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE): Falling prices on CO2 emissions have resulted in falling electricity prices From Monday in week 17 to Tuesday in week 18, the prices for CO2 emission permits fell by 65 percent. This price drop has influenced the prices in the Nordic electricity market. The prices at Nord Pool for Sweden, Finland and Eastern Denmark fell by approximately 10 percent from week 16 to week 17, while the Norwegian prices fell by 5 percent. The lower price fall in Norway was influenced by limited transmission capacity and less snow than normal. Also in the financial market there was a considerable price drop. The forward price for third quarter 2006 fell by 28 percent from Monday in week 17, to 310 NOK/MWh Tuesday in week 18. From week 16 to week 17, there was a doubling in the inflow to the Norwegian hydropower reservoirs, and the effective inflow in week 17 was 1.4 TWh. The increased inflow resulted in a reduced fall in the reservoir filling level. In week 17, the filling level fell by 0.8 percentage points to 29.1 percent. In Sweden, the filling level increased with 1.6 percentage points to 20.6 percent. ------------------------------- Contact person at the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate: Marit Lundteigen Fossdal, NVE, tel: +47 2295 9353