The energy-saving trend continued in the Czech Republic in the first month of this year. Gas consumption was almost 20 percent lower year-on-year in January, while electricity consumption was over six percent lower. This is based on data from Amper Meteo, a company that has monitored energy consumption in the Czech Republic in the context of the weather for a long time.
Last January was the second warmest in the last six years. Compared to last January, it was warmer by 1.6 °C on average, Amper Meteo data show. The combination of favorable weather and continued austerity in heating by households and businesses resulted in significantly lower consumption.
Year-on-year, gas consumption was 19.7 percent lower. Adjusted for the effect of weather and the gas consumption of the Počerady steam power plant, the savings were 14.1 percent. “Compared to the 2017–2021 average, the adjusted savings were even higher at 19.6 percent. In January 2022, the initial savings were already visible, so the year-on-year difference is smaller than the difference compared to the average of the previous five years,” Kamil Rajdl, an analyst at Amper Meteo, said about the data.
The Czech Republic heated up the last week, from Wednesday to Friday, when daily consumption figures reached 390-gigawatt hours (GWh). By comparison, during the hard frosts in the first half of December, daily consumption reached 450 GWh for a few days.
Electricity consumption was also down 6.1 percent year-on-year in January. “This is the second-best result in the year following October 2022,” Rajdl said.
In terms of gas reserves, about 27.2 TWh of gas remained in Czech underground storage as of January 30, which corresponds to about 74 percent of the total capacity. This is according to Gas Infrastructure Europe – Aggregated Gas Storage Inventory (GIE AGSI) data. Storage capacity in the European Union is 72.6 percent.