Since mid-March 2020, EU Member States have taken restrictive measures to slow down the spread of COVID-19. These measures included the closure of factories, schools, restaurants, bars, hotels and requiring people to stay at home. Many companies lowered production levels due to a lack of demand or because of interruption to their supply chain. These measures were in full force during the entire month of April 2020.
As a result, April data show a lower electricity consumption in most Member States. The total EU electricity consumption in April 2020 was 11.2% lower than the lowest April value recorded between 2016 and 2019. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, Italy was not able to report monthly electricity data. Therefore, the EU aggregate includes only 26 of the 27 Member States.
Source dataset: nrg_cb_em
Electricity consumption showed very low levels in a number of countries which were hit by the COVID-19 crisis and therefore introduced more restrictive measures, in particular France (-15.0%), Spain (-14.8%), Luxembourg (-13.7%). A further seven Member States show a reduction in electricity consumption of more than 10% compared to the lowest April level for the previous 5 years. For four Member States, the reductions were between 5% and 10%, while for a further eight Member States, consumption fell by up to 5%.
Interestingly, for four Member States electricity consumption was only the second lowest in comparison to other months of April between 2016 and 2020.
Source data for the EU and EU Member States:
Electricity consumption, January to April 2016 - 2020
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