Belgian families and companies are saving a lot on their electricity bills amidst the energy crisis. Last October, electricity consumption was 9.6 percent down on an average month of October. Without the effect of this year's warm October, consumption was still 6 percent down, probably due to the recent price hikes. Gas consumption also dropped substantially.
Climate & Environment
Electricity consumption almost 10 percent down on the year last October, gas consumption 28 percent
Michaël Torfs
Published:
Elia, the company responsible for the national grid, compared last October to the average of the past five months of October. Families are cutting down on power consumption, but so are companies. The industrial sector accounts for about 70 percent of the Belgian electricity consumption. Electricity consumption was lower than average for the whole of 2022, but the gap has been widening in autumn.
Last October, the share of solar power climbed to 6.6 percent, compared to 3.9 percent in October 2021. More people are installing solar panels - to such an extent that installers cannot follow demand - and October was particularly sunny as well.
If you take solar and wind energy sources together, these account for almost a quarter of our energy consumption. Nuclear power plants accounted for almost half.
Gas consumption was also down substantially, the daily De Tijd reports using figures supplied by the European organisation Entsog. Even when taking into account the particularly mild conditions in October, gas consumption was 28 percent down on the year. The drop can be attributed almost entirely to households and small users.