Heat consumption in Prague falls 5.5% year on year, mainly due to warm weather

Heat consumption in Prague during the current heating season has so far fallen 5.5 percent year on year. The drop in demand is mainly due to weather conditions throughout the year. Pavel Maďar, head of customer portfolio for Bohemia at Pražská teplárenská, told the Czech News Agency (ČTK). According to the Czech Heating Association, this year’s heating season in the Czech Republic is the warmest in more than 60 years.

The Veolia Energie Group, which includes Pražská teplárenská, began the heating season in most locations on 9 October. According to Maďar, this was three weeks later than usual. By the end of March, Pražská teplárenská had supplied a total of 5954 terajoules of heat to 240,000 Prague households. „The heating season is not over yet; heating usually ends in the second half of May, depending on whether the conditions based on air temperature measurements in the given area are met,“ Maďar noted.

Heat consumption is falling across the Czech Republic this year. Overall, this year’s demand for heat from district heating systems is 15 percent below the ten-year average. According to data from the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, the average temperature from September to the end of April was around 7.1 degrees Celsius, two degrees higher than the average for the last ten heating seasons.

„Mainly because of the weather, heat deliveries from district heating plants will be at a historic low. Heating began a month later than usual, in mid-October, and from February onwards the weather was a month ahead in terms of temperatures,“ said Pavel Kaufmann, spokesperson for the Czech Heating Association.

Some Czech district heating plants suspended deliveries because of the warm weather in the first half of April, but resumed them in the second half of the month.

Under a decree issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the heating season runs from the beginning of September to the end of May. Heating may be suspended or reduced earlier if the average outdoor temperature rises above 13 degrees Celsius for two consecutive days and no colder weather is expected.