U.S. EIA forecasts electricity consumption to fall 2.3% in 2020

摘要

On October 6, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, which projects U.S. electricity demand to fall to 3,809 billion kWh in 2020, down 2.3% from 3,896 billion kWh in 2019. The declines are attributable to reduced demand stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to milder weather in the early 2020 period. Going forward, EIA expects U.S. power demand to remain relatively flat in 2021 at 3,806 billion kWh.It is noteworthy that EIA’s projected power sales to commercial and industrial consumers is expected to fall by 6.2% and 5.6%, respectively, in 2020 compared to 2019, due to the lingering impacts of the pandemic. Yet, electricity sales to the residential sector is expected to increase 3.2% as the pandemic is keeping people at home for longer periods of time.