Gas and electricity consumption in Czechia began to rise this year

Energy consumption in Czechia began to rise this year. In the first half of the year, Czechs increased their gas consumption by 12 percent year-on-year, while electricity consumption rose by 2.6 percent. Colder weather has been the main factor behind this year's increase in consumption. This is according to statistics from the Energy Regulatory Office (ERÚ). In previous years, consumption had instead been falling.

According to the office's data, the year began with a widespread drop in consumption, with gas and electricity use in January several percent lower year-on-year. Consumption rose more significantly compared with last year in every subsequent month. The reason was the weather, which was colder from February onwards than in the same period last year.

In the first six months, Czechs therefore consumed more than 43.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) of gas. In the same period last year, consumption was slightly above 38 TWh. The biggest difference was in February, when consumption rose by more than 26 percent year-on-year. Higher consumption, by several percentage points, continued towards the end of the half-year.

The differences in electricity consumption are less pronounced. More than 30.1 TWh of electricity was consumed in the first half of the year, compared with 29.4 TWh last year. As with gas, however, consumption was higher in every calendar month this year except January.

In previous years, Czechs had instead cut their energy consumption. In addition to warm weather, experts say the main reason was rising energy prices. These began to increase after some domestic suppliers collapsed at the end of 2021, and rose significantly after Russia launched its aggression against Ukraine. Savings were evident across all customer groups.