Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
European statistics on electricity prices for household and final non-household customers.
3.2. Classification system
Internal Eurostat classification system based on annual electricity consumption bands and tax levels.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Household sector and final non-household sector (industry, services, offices, agriculture, etc).
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The prices are reported in national currencies per kWh and according to different bands of consumption.
For the household sector, these bands are:
DA: customers consuming less than 1000 kWh.
DB: customers consuming 1000 kWh or more but less than 2500 kWh.
DC: customers consuming 2500 kWh or more but less than 5000 kWh.
DD: customers consuming 5000 kWh or more but less than 15000 kWh.
DE: customers consuming 15000 kWh or more.
For the final non-household sector, the bands are:
IA: customers consuming less than 20 MWh.
IB: customers consuming 20 MWh or more but less than 500 MWh.
IC: customers consuming 500 MWh or more but less than 2000 MWh.
ID: customers consuming 2000 MWh or more but less than 20000 MWh.
IE: customers consuming 20000 MWh or more but less than 70000 MWh.
IF: customers consuming 70000 MWh or more but less than 150000 MWh.
IG: customers consuming 150000 MWh or more.
There exist 2 different levels of disagregation for semestrial and annual prices:
1- Semestrial prices:
These prices are reported twice a year and are divided in 3 levels:
Level 1 prices: prices excluding taxes and levies.
Level 2 prices: prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes and levies.
Level 3 prices: prices including all taxes and levies.
2- Annual prices:
These prices are reported once a year together with the data for the second semester and are divided into the following components and taxes:
Energy and supply: generation, aggregation, balancing energy, supplied energy costs, customer services, after-sales management and other supply costs.
Network cost: transmission and distribution tariffs, transmission and distribution losses, network costs, after-sale service costs, system service costs, and meter rental and metering costs.
Value added taxes (VAT): as defined in Council Directive 2006/112/EC.
Renewable taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to the promotion of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and CHP generation.
Capacity taxes: Taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to capacity payments, energy security and generation adequacy; taxes on coal industry restructuring; taxes on electricity distribution; stranded costs and levies on financing energy regulatory authorities or market and system operators.
Environmental taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to air quality and for other environmental purposes; taxes on emissions of CO2 or other greenhouse gases. This component includes the excise duties.
Nuclear taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to the nuclear sector, including nuclear decommissioning, inspections and fees for nuclear installations.
All other taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges not covered by any of the previous five categories: support for district heating; local or regional fiscal charges; island compensation; concession fees relating to licences and fees for the occupation of land and public or private property by networks or other devices.
In addition to these elements, the network cost is split into the respective shares of transmission and distribution. The relative share of consumption in the different consumption bands is reported by the countries and used to calculate the single national electricity prices (weighted averages for consumer bands IA-IF and DA-DE) but not published because it could be used to re-calculate some confidential values.
Taxes consist of a tax on consumption of electricity, value added tax (which is the only refundable tax) and subsidies to Enova (a tax used for promotion of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency.). The value added tax on electricity is fully refundable by non-household consumers. In all counties in Norway households have the same tax rate for the consumption of electricity, apart from some parts of Troms and the whole of Finnmark, which are exempt. The Enova tax is the same for all households throughout the country. VAT is added after electricity price, grid rent and other taxes have been added togheter. Households in Nordland, Troms and Finnmark are exempt from VAT.
For companies in Norway there are two levels of tax on consumption of electricity. A normal tax, which is paid by most companies, and reduced taxed that are paid by manufacturing companies and few other consumer groups. We use a modelling approach to calculate the average of this tax.
To help households against the high electricity prices, the governments in Norway introduced a temporary support scheme (subsidy scheme) from December 2021 and onwards. Where all households receives support per kWh it used in months where the electricity price is above a certain threshold value. This support is paid to household consumers by lowering their electricity bill. The Support scheme is reporter as a negative value in the category “all other taxes, fees, levies and charges”. It will affect the reference period 2021 and onwards as long as the scheme is active.
3.5. Statistical unit
Household and final non-household consumers divided into consumption bands.
3.6. Statistical population
Household customers: Data coming from 40 out of 170 suppliers and representing about 60 % ofthe volume of the household customers.
Final non-household customers: Data coming from 40 out of 180 suppliers and representing 60 % of the volume of final non-household customers.
3.7. Reference area
The whole country.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Electricity prices data for Norway are available since 1998.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Prices are reported in national currency per kWh. However, Eurostat also calculates and publishes the prices in EURO and PPS (purchasing power parity). Relative shares of sub-component of the network component and consumption volumes are reported in percentages.
For semestrial prices, the reference periods are from January to June for semester 1 and from July to December for semester 2.
For annual prices, the reference period is the whole calendar year (from January to December).
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
At EU level:
Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices and repealing Directive 2008/92/EC (Text with EEA relevance).
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2169 of 21 November 2017 concerning the format and arrangements for the transmission of European Statistics on natural gas and electricity prices pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance).
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1734 of 14 November 2018 granting derogations to the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Spain, the Italian Republic and the Republic of Cyprus as regards the provision of statistics pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 of the European Parliament and of the Council (notified under document C(2018) 7465) (Text with EEA relevance).
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2019/823 concerning the content of quality reports on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance).
Eurostat does not share the data collected with other organisation appart from its usual dissemination chanel (Eurostat's database, statistic explained articles and press or news release) .
At national level:
Data is sent to Eurostat.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
At EU level:
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 11 March 2009, on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities.
At national level:
Act relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway, § 7 and § 8.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Published data should not allow identification of single consumers.
When Statistics Norway publishes statistics, we ensure that no information about identifiable natural or legal persons (usually economic entities) can be revealed using the statistics. To this end, we suppress/hide table cells that are based on just a small number of observations, for example fewer than 3. Suppressed values are replaced with a symbol denoting that figures cannot be given: «:».
8.1. Release calendar
The release of the statistics is published in the statistics release calendar. The calendar shows forthcoming publishing dates of the statistics, articles, publications and journals, as well as upcoming events. The calendar is updated continuously. Statistics are released at precisely 8 am every working day.
Statistics are entered in the calendar at least three months before their release date. The date of the next release is also given on the relevant statistics’ web page. For most monthly statistics and some quarterly statistics, the release date is available much further in advance.
The calendar is publicly accessible so as to treat all users equally.
The statistics release calendar is used to show that Statistics Norway is predictable and professionally independent, and that it treats all users equally. The calendar shows forthcoming publishing dates of statistics, articles, publications and journals, as well as upcoming events. The calendar is updated continuously. Statistics are released at precisely 8 am every working day.
Publications of statistics are entered in the calendar at least three months before their release date. The date of the next release is also given on the relevant statistics’ web page. For most monthly statistics and some quarterly statistics, the release date is available much further in advance. Other products, such as publications and articles, must also be notified in good time, and no later than the day before publishing.
Electricity prices in Norway are published on a semestrial basis on Eurostat's website.
Every quarter there is a national press release related to the publication of new data. The press release can be found on this web page: https://www.ssb.no/en/energi-og-industri/energi/statistikk/elektrisitetspriser .
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
The national publication related to the data can be found here https://www.ssb.no/en/energi-og-industri/energi/statistikk/elektrisitetspriser.
In the year 2021 the national databases had 28 413 consultations.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Statistics Norway provides microdata for research projects. If you are a researcher at an approved research institution you can apply for access to data for a research project. If your institution is not on the list of approved research institutions, the institution must apply for approval to personvernombudet@ssb.no. If you are not associated with an approved research institution, you can also apply for access to data from Statistics Norway if your research institution is conducting a specific project that is either financed by The Research Council of Norway or other national or international research program, or on behalf of a public body that uses the Standard agreement for research and report assignments (the research agreement).
Transfer of personal data outside the country’s borders is not allowed according to the statistics act. This means that any researcher or institution that wishes to apply for microdata will only ever be granted access to completely anonymous data. Due to the difficulty of anonymizing data in such a small country as Norway, this will rarely be feasible. An alternative is to gain access to a Norwegian research project and be given access at the Norwegian Institution in connection with such a project. This requires that the participating members be pre-submitted to Statistics Norway and that the formal requirements are fulfilled.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
There are not other ways for disseminating the data that is not covered by the previous sections.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Due to the design of the web page it is not possible to find out if somone has looked at the metadata part of the web page or if that person visited the main page of the electricity price statistics.
The main page of the electricity price statistics had 79 510 in 2021, but we can not tell the share of the consultations that also looked at the metadata part of the web page.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Metadata related to the quarterly electricity price statistics can be found on the webpage under the title "About the statistics". There you can find information about definitions, background, administrative information and so on.
In Norway, the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP) constitute the cornerstone of a common framework for quality in the statistics and we use different tools like quality indicators, quality reports, self-assessments and compliance monitoring as part of the internal montoring of quality in Statistics Norway. Also Statistics Norway use systematic review of quality in statistics and production processes as a tool for quality assurance.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The quarterly electricity price statisics cover a large part of the end-user consumption of electricity and the response rate is very high. The estimates from the quarterly statistics on prices and volumes correspond well with (the final) annual electricity statistics which is published about 9 months later and covers the whole population. This statistics is based on register data.
The different tools mentioned in point 11.1 (like quality indicators, quality reports, self-assessments and compliance monitoring as part of the internal montoring of quality and systematic review of quality in statistics and production processes) are relevant for Quality assessments.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Statistics Norway regularly holds meetings with the Advisory committee for electricity statistics which include participants from different user groups like analyses institutions, branch organisations and different public authorities to follow. In these meetings views and opinions of the users on the energy statistics are collected and the advisory Committee provides important feedback on how we can improve statistics in the energy domain including electricity price statistics.
The electricity price statistics are used by the public authorities to follow the development in the market for electric energy. Different analyses institutions and branch organisations also use the statistics and some electricity suppliers use the statistics for prices of electric energy when they set their own prices.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
In meetings with the Advisory committee for electricity statististics, which include participants from different user groups like analyses institutions, we get some feedback on user satisfication. In addition the users have the opportunity to send in coments to the statistics via the contact information on the web page of Statistics Norway.
12.3. Completeness
Norway is able to provide all the data requested by Eurostat.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
100%
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Collection errors may occur in the data due to oblivion, misunderstandings, etc. Processing errors may occur in the exercise of the quality controls. Misunderstandings of the variables and valuations by the units in the samlple may lead to uncertainty in the figures from the survey. The prices are supposed to be reported without public taxes. If the respondents don't see this information they might report too high price. Also they might report a too low price if they do not include possible fixed part of the price. Most often this type of mistakes will be identified in the editing phase by the person responsible for the statistical production and the errors will be corrected.
The figures are not revised after the release of the statistics except if large errors are discovered.
13.2. Sampling error
Missing questionnaires are imputated by using the average value for that contract type. The response rate is about 98 per cent. Probability sampling is not used.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
We do not have estimates on the random variation of an estimator due to sampling.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Information is included in the sub-concepts S.13.3.1-S.13.3.5.
13.3.1. Coverage error
We do not have information about any divergence between the frame and target population.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
We do not have information estimates of an over-coverage rate.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
No administrative sources are used, 100 per cent of the data is covered by the survey.
13.3.2. Measurement error
There might be errors in reading, calculating or recording numerical value.
In the editing phase of the statistical production many errors will be identified and corrected. Data on prices and volumes are compared to earlier periods and other price data. Outliers and extreme values are also identified and corrected in the editing phase.
13.3.3. Non response error
The non-response rate is low (about 2 per cent). We do not believe there are large biases due to non-response in the survey. When we compare the price-estimates from the quarterly electricity price statistics with the estimates from the yearly electricity price statistics (which covers the whole population and collected from a different data sources) there are no large differences.
When there is a non-response, we impute average values at the estimation stage.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
The non-response rate is about 2 %.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
We do not have this information.
13.3.4. Processing error
Processing errors may occur when Statistics Norway process the data. Typical examples are misinterpretations, or when correct answers are assumed to be false and corrected. Electronic data collection through Altinn (Web-portal) has reduced these kinds of errors.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not Applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Electricity providers that participate in the national data collection are requested to provide the electricity price data within three weeks after the reference period. After arrival, the statistical office checks the micro-data for correctness, consistency and completeness and national averages are calculated and reported to Eurostat during the third month after the reference period.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
The first version of the electricity price questionnaire for households for the 1st semester of 2019 was sent 87 days after the reference period.
The first version of the electricity price questionnaire for households for the 2nd semester of 2019 was sent 90 days after the reference period.
The first version of the electricity price questionnaire for households for the 1st semester of 2020 was sent 69 days after the reference period.
The first version of the electricity price questionnaire for households for the 2nd semester of 2020 was sent 85 days after the reference period.
The first version of the electricity price questionnaire for households for the 1st semester of 2021 was sent 57 days after the reference period.
The first version of the electricity price questionnaire for households for the 2nd semester of 2021 was sent 77 days after the reference period.
The first version of the electricity price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2019 was sent 87 days after the reference period.
The first version of the electricity price questionnaire for non-households for the 2nd semester of 2019 was sent 90 days after the reference period.
The first version of the electricity price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2020 was sent 69 days after the reference period.
The first version of the electricity price questionnaire for non-households for the 2nd semester of 2020 was sent 85 days after the reference period.
The first version of the electricity price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2021 was sent 57 days after the reference period.
The first version of the electricity price questionnaire for non-households for the 2nd semester of 2021 was sent 77 days after the reference period.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
About 55 days after the reference period.
14.2. Punctuality
The legal deadline for submitting the questionnaires is the third month after the reference period. All questioners have been submitted before deadline.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
All questionnaires have been submitted on time.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Electricity use in households is very high in Norway compared to many European countries (average household consumption about 16 000 kWh annually). This implies that a very high proportion of the consumption fall into the highest consumption bands (D and E). It is important to keep that in mind when comparing electricity prices for a specific consumption band across countries with different household consumption distributions.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
There have been no changes the statistic is comparable over time.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
1998.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Not applicable.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Annual prices is coherent with the semestrial prices.
The statistical data on electricity prices for non-household customers is collected as an annex to the quarterly electricity price survey in Norway (about 40 electrical suppliers which on average use 1 hour to complete the whole survey). This implies that there is some extra response burden for these businesses. Data sought from businesses is readily available from their accounts and an electronic portal (Altinn) is used to facilitate data collection. For data on household prices we use information already collected from other sources and some estimations.
17.1. Data revision - policy
The figures are only revised after the release of the statistics if large errors are discovered. If large errors are discovered, we correct the relevant disseminated data.
17.2. Data revision - practice
The figures are not revised after the release of the statistics except if large errors are discover.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
There was no revision performed for 2019-2021 data.
Household electricty prices collection: 0
Non-household electricity prices collection: 0
18.1. Source data
The statistics are made from information from a sample of about 40 electricity suppliers in the wholesale market and 45 electricity suppliers in the end-user market. The sample is made to cover as good as possible both large and small electricity plants, different geographical areas, and different consumer groups the electricity plants sell electricity too.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Quarterly.
18.3. Data collection
The survey is based on electronic questionnaires (on-line survey) collected via our web portal Altinn. The questionnaire is designed by survey-methodologists using best practice to ensure that the respondents understand the questions and report correct data and only receive the questions relevant for that respondent. Quantities sold and average prices are collected for different types of contracts and consumer groups. Weighted average prices and measures of dispersion are made from this.
18.4. Data validation
Maximum and minimum values are controlled and values are checked against other data from the data collection. To some extent the figures are also compared with previous reported data for each of the electricity plants. Decimal- and thousand separators and denomination are controlled thoroughly. The prices are compared with the spot prices of electricity at the nordic power exchange Nord Pool. Reported quantities are on regular intervals compared with reported quantities in the yearly electricity statistics and the statistics for Energy use in the manufacturing sector.
18.5. Data compilation
Quantities of electricity sold to end consumers and the average prices are collected for different types of contracts and consumer groups. Weighted average prices and measures of dispersion are made from this.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
It is a very low number of imputation. In most quarters we have no imputations at all.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Seasonable adjustments are not carried out.
European statistics on electricity prices for household and final non-household customers.
15 June 2022
The prices are reported in national currencies per kWh and according to different bands of consumption.
For the household sector, these bands are:
DA: customers consuming less than 1000 kWh.
DB: customers consuming 1000 kWh or more but less than 2500 kWh.
DC: customers consuming 2500 kWh or more but less than 5000 kWh.
DD: customers consuming 5000 kWh or more but less than 15000 kWh.
DE: customers consuming 15000 kWh or more.
For the final non-household sector, the bands are:
IA: customers consuming less than 20 MWh.
IB: customers consuming 20 MWh or more but less than 500 MWh.
IC: customers consuming 500 MWh or more but less than 2000 MWh.
ID: customers consuming 2000 MWh or more but less than 20000 MWh.
IE: customers consuming 20000 MWh or more but less than 70000 MWh.
IF: customers consuming 70000 MWh or more but less than 150000 MWh.
IG: customers consuming 150000 MWh or more.
There exist 2 different levels of disagregation for semestrial and annual prices:
1- Semestrial prices:
These prices are reported twice a year and are divided in 3 levels:
Level 1 prices: prices excluding taxes and levies.
Level 2 prices: prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes and levies.
Level 3 prices: prices including all taxes and levies.
2- Annual prices:
These prices are reported once a year together with the data for the second semester and are divided into the following components and taxes:
Energy and supply: generation, aggregation, balancing energy, supplied energy costs, customer services, after-sales management and other supply costs.
Network cost: transmission and distribution tariffs, transmission and distribution losses, network costs, after-sale service costs, system service costs, and meter rental and metering costs.
Value added taxes (VAT): as defined in Council Directive 2006/112/EC.
Renewable taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to the promotion of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and CHP generation.
Capacity taxes: Taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to capacity payments, energy security and generation adequacy; taxes on coal industry restructuring; taxes on electricity distribution; stranded costs and levies on financing energy regulatory authorities or market and system operators.
Environmental taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to air quality and for other environmental purposes; taxes on emissions of CO2 or other greenhouse gases. This component includes the excise duties.
Nuclear taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to the nuclear sector, including nuclear decommissioning, inspections and fees for nuclear installations.
All other taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges not covered by any of the previous five categories: support for district heating; local or regional fiscal charges; island compensation; concession fees relating to licences and fees for the occupation of land and public or private property by networks or other devices.
In addition to these elements, the network cost is split into the respective shares of transmission and distribution. The relative share of consumption in the different consumption bands is reported by the countries and used to calculate the single national electricity prices (weighted averages for consumer bands IA-IF and DA-DE) but not published because it could be used to re-calculate some confidential values.
Taxes consist of a tax on consumption of electricity, value added tax (which is the only refundable tax) and subsidies to Enova (a tax used for promotion of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency.). The value added tax on electricity is fully refundable by non-household consumers. In all counties in Norway households have the same tax rate for the consumption of electricity, apart from some parts of Troms and the whole of Finnmark, which are exempt. The Enova tax is the same for all households throughout the country. VAT is added after electricity price, grid rent and other taxes have been added togheter. Households in Nordland, Troms and Finnmark are exempt from VAT.
For companies in Norway there are two levels of tax on consumption of electricity. A normal tax, which is paid by most companies, and reduced taxed that are paid by manufacturing companies and few other consumer groups. We use a modelling approach to calculate the average of this tax.
To help households against the high electricity prices, the governments in Norway introduced a temporary support scheme (subsidy scheme) from December 2021 and onwards. Where all households receives support per kWh it used in months where the electricity price is above a certain threshold value. This support is paid to household consumers by lowering their electricity bill. The Support scheme is reporter as a negative value in the category “all other taxes, fees, levies and charges”. It will affect the reference period 2021 and onwards as long as the scheme is active.
Household and final non-household consumers divided into consumption bands.
Household customers: Data coming from 40 out of 170 suppliers and representing about 60 % ofthe volume of the household customers.
Final non-household customers: Data coming from 40 out of 180 suppliers and representing 60 % of the volume of final non-household customers.
The whole country.
For semestrial prices, the reference periods are from January to June for semester 1 and from July to December for semester 2.
For annual prices, the reference period is the whole calendar year (from January to December).
Collection errors may occur in the data due to oblivion, misunderstandings, etc. Processing errors may occur in the exercise of the quality controls. Misunderstandings of the variables and valuations by the units in the samlple may lead to uncertainty in the figures from the survey. The prices are supposed to be reported without public taxes. If the respondents don't see this information they might report too high price. Also they might report a too low price if they do not include possible fixed part of the price. Most often this type of mistakes will be identified in the editing phase by the person responsible for the statistical production and the errors will be corrected.
The figures are not revised after the release of the statistics except if large errors are discovered.
Prices are reported in national currency per kWh. However, Eurostat also calculates and publishes the prices in EURO and PPS (purchasing power parity). Relative shares of sub-component of the network component and consumption volumes are reported in percentages.
Quantities of electricity sold to end consumers and the average prices are collected for different types of contracts and consumer groups. Weighted average prices and measures of dispersion are made from this.
The statistics are made from information from a sample of about 40 electricity suppliers in the wholesale market and 45 electricity suppliers in the end-user market. The sample is made to cover as good as possible both large and small electricity plants, different geographical areas, and different consumer groups the electricity plants sell electricity too.
Electricity prices in Norway are published on a semestrial basis on Eurostat's website.
Electricity providers that participate in the national data collection are requested to provide the electricity price data within three weeks after the reference period. After arrival, the statistical office checks the micro-data for correctness, consistency and completeness and national averages are calculated and reported to Eurostat during the third month after the reference period.
Electricity use in households is very high in Norway compared to many European countries (average household consumption about 16 000 kWh annually). This implies that a very high proportion of the consumption fall into the highest consumption bands (D and E). It is important to keep that in mind when comparing electricity prices for a specific consumption band across countries with different household consumption distributions.
There have been no changes the statistic is comparable over time.
