"We will end the winter with low levels in the water reservoirs and this will likely affect electricity prices at least until the summer," says Johan Sigvardsson, an analyst at electricity trading company Bixia, in a press release.
He notes that the weather forecasts from before Christmas have been turned upside down. It has become significantly colder than what was predicted then, and this also applies to large parts of Europe. This has triggered higher electricity consumption and eroded levels in hydroelectric dams.
In January alone, the price of electricity has become 50 percent higher than the market forecast indicated in December.
The electricity price in Sweden is now predicted to be between 70 öre and 1.10 kronor per kWh on average for the first quarter, highest in the south. Last year, the corresponding figures were 17–80 öre per kWh.
