Energy consumption in Czechia has started to rise, affected by weather and falling prices

Energy consumption in Czechia has started to rise. In the first quarter of this year, Czechs increased their electricity consumption by 2.7 percent year on year, while gas consumption rose by as much as 14.2 percent. This brought to an end the period of continuous declines seen in recent years. The Czech Energy Regulatory Office (ERÚ) informed the Czech News Agency (CTK) of this today. The office said colder weather and falling energy prices had played a role.

“Electricity and gas consumption both rose year on year in the first quarter of this year, and in both cases were even higher than in the same period of 2023. This confirms that the period of continuous declines has ended. Gas consumption was particularly affected by lower temperatures compared with last year. Actual consumption rose by more than 14 percent; adjusted for the long-term temperature norm, it was up 3.5 percent. It is clear that, alongside the weather, other factors also play a role, including energy prices. Electricity generation also increased,” said Jan Šefránek, chairman of the ERÚ Council.

According to him, rising energy consumption is evident across all consumer categories. “We expect this trend to continue in the future as the gradual shift from coal to gas proceeds. For electricity, the only exception was consumers connected to the very high-voltage grid. Household consumption increased significantly, by more than nine percent for electricity alone,” the ERÚ chairman noted.

According to ERÚ data, total net electricity consumption in the first three months amounted to 16.4 terawatt-hours (TWh), up 2.7 percent year on year. Households recorded the largest increase in consumption, rising by more than nine percent compared with last year.

Electricity generation rose even more sharply, by 9.6 percent year on year. As a result, electricity exports once again exceeded imports. The balance increased from 1.7 TWh in the first quarter of last year to 2.9 TWh, while exports alone rose by 36.1 percent to 7.6 TWh.

According to the office, gas consumption rose by more than 14 percent year on year to 2.8 million cubic metres. The weather also had a marked effect on consumption patterns in individual months. While an exceptionally warm January reduced consumption by 0.7 percent year on year, consumption in the cold February rose by almost 36 percent compared with last year. The increase in March was more than 14 percent.

At the end of March, gas storage facilities held 842 million cubic metres of gas. They were therefore 36.9 percent full, compared with more than 61 percent at the same time last year.