Lysaker, 22 November 2006 Nord Pool has received the following information from the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE): Lower electricity prices Mild weather and plenty of precipitation have together with increased nuclear power output resulted in lower prices at the Nordic electricity exchange. From the end of August the exchange price for electric power in south Norway has fallen by a third. In week 46 the average price became 47.93 EUR/MWh. A residential consumer with a market price contract, including a reasonable mark up, would have paid 6.3 eurocents/kWh in week 46. This contract would be about 2.7 eurocents/kWh cheaper than the average standard variable contract of the dominating suppliers for the same week. The high precipitation has produced an inflow above normal to the Norwegian water reservoirs for three consecutive weeks. The inflow in week 46 was 70 percent above normal and hitherto this year, the inflow has been 16 TWh below normal. Furthermore, mild weather and high electricity prices have resulted in lower demand and production of electric power compared to normal for this time of the year. The water reservoir level increased with 0.2 percentage points from week 45 to week 46 and the reservoir level was 65.3 percent at the end of week 46. The increase in south Norway was 0.8 percentage points due to much rain in the western parts. The reservoir levels in the three Norwegian elspot areas are almost equal. ------------------------------- Contact person at the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate: Tor Arnt Johnsen, NVE, phone: +47 9302 4238 Jon Sagen, NVE, phone: +47 2295 9595