Lysaker, 16 March 2005 Nord Pool has received the following information from the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE): Milder weather contributed to reduced demand for electricity in week 10. This resulted in lower prices during peak load, and reduced price differences between peak load and base load hours. Reduced prices resulted in decreased Norwegian production. The Norwegian electricity export fell from 424 GWh in week 9 to 359 GWh in week 10. For long periods, there has been limited capacity on the interconnections between Norway and Sweden. Several other interconnections have also had reduced capacity this week. This has limited the electricity flow between the Nordic countries and led to price differences. The inflow to the Norwegian hydropower reservoirs was 0.4 TWh during week 10, which is 20 percent below normal. The filling level for the Norwegian reservoirs fell by 3.4 percentage points during week 10 to 44.6 percent. That is 3.7 percentage points below normal, but 11.1 percentage points higher than at the same time last year. In Sweden, the reservoir filling level is now 31.3 percent, after a reduction of 3.4 percentage points during week 10. ------------------------------- Contact person at the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate: Marit Lundteigen Fossdal, NVE, tel: +47 2295 9353