The consumption of electricity and gas in Austria also fell sharply in January. Year-on-year, electricity consumption fell by 7.2 percent and gas consumption even fell by 21.5 percent, regulator E-Control reported on Friday. The relatively mild temperatures were only partly responsible for the decline. Electricity production was lower, but the gas storages were much better filled than a year ago.
Household electricity consumption (excluding consumption for pumped storage) was 6.23 terawatt hours (TWh) at the start of the year, 7.2 percent below the level of the previous year. At the same time, 5.5 TWh produced 14.9 percent less electricity than in January 2022. Hydropower plants accounted for 48.3 percent with 2.58 TWh, while thermal power plants generated 30.2 percent of the electricity. The electricity yield of the wind turbines was 0.84 TWh this year, 21.2 percent lower than in the same month last year, and the share in the total production was 15.2 percent.
Import balance of electricity 56.6 percent above the value of the previous year
Electricity imports increased by 7.2 percent to 2.84 TWh, while at the same time 12.4 percent less electricity was exported to 1.66 TWh. The import balance was 1.18 TWh and thus 56.6 percent above last year’s value.
Mild temperatures are only partly to blame for the drop
Gas consumption fell by 21.5 percent to 9.91 TWh. “This decline is only partly due to relatively milder temperatures in January 2023, as heating degree days were only about four percent lower than the previous year,” E-Control said in a broadcast. Domestic gas production (including the input of biogenic gases) was 0.58 TWh in January, 16.3 percent lower than one year previously.
In January, at 10.45 TWh, 21.0 percent less gas was extracted from storage than the year before, while at the same time 1.58 TWh was stored. At 75 TWh, the domestic gas storages were much better filled at the beginning of the year than a year ago, when there were only 21.25 TWh of gas in stock. In addition, significantly less gas was imported this year at 14.7 TWh (minus 46.3 percent) and gas exports also fell by 47.6 percent to 14.2 TWh.
Source: Krone
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