Lysaker, 19 January 2005 Nord Pool has received the following information from the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE): Also during week 2, the inflow of water to the Norwegian reservoirs was record high. An inflow of 2.5 TWh is more than three times what is normal for the week. During the last two weeks, the inflow to the reservoirs has been 3.2 TWh higher than normal. The high inflow resulted in the reservoir filling level falling with only 0.5 percentage points. The reservoir filling level of 69.5 percent is 2.7 percentage points above normal for week 2. In Sweden, the reservoir filling is now 59.1 percent, after a reduction of 2.8 percentage points during week 2. Mild weather gave low Norwegian and Nordic consumption in week 2. Simultaneously, the Norwegian production increased, resulting in an export of 214 GWh during week 2. This is the highest net export since the first week of October 2002. Much precipitation and increased production have, together with low consumption, contributed to reduced wholesale prices. In the end of November 2004, electricity with delivery in April 2005 was traded at 0.241 NOK/kWh at the Nordic power exchange. Today, the same contract is traded for 0.175 NOK/kWh. Falling wholesale prices also results in falling end user prices. The average price on standard variable price contracts offered by the 15 cheapest national suppliers will be 0.273 NOK/kWh. This is a reduction of 0.05 NOK/kWh during the last seven weeks. ------------------------------- Contact person at the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate: Marit Lundteigen Fossdal, NVE, tel: +47 2295 9353