SEAI survey finds fall in electricity use during Covid-19 pandemic

The data found that the lockdown affected transport energy the most with the demand for petrol and diesel going down.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) examined energy demand - including electricity, gas and oil - in Ireland for the first four months of the year.

A report has found that electricity use has dropped by a fifth since the start of the lockdown.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) examined energy demand - including electricity, gas and oil - in Ireland for the first four months of the year.

The data found that the lockdown affected transport energy the most with the demand for petrol and diesel falling by 15% and 10% respectively in March when compared to the previous month.

However, they then slumped by 53% and 42% respectively in April, the first full month of travel and business restrictions.

Meanwhile, electricity demand decreased by 21% compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Heating oil was also affected by the lockdown with deliveries of kerosene for heating of homes and businesses up 32% in March compared to the previous month, but down 29% in April from March's figure.

However, compared to the same months in 2019, kerosene deliveries are up by 86% and 68% respectively.

The SEAI puts this down to people stocking up over worries about supplies at the start of the lockdown and low retail oil prices.

Gas oil - also used for heating - showed the same trend as kerosene with an increase of 32% in March compared with February and then a 3.8% fall in April compared with March. Compared with 2019, deliveries were 33% and 18% higher respectively in March and April.

They also found that there was 84% less kerosene used for air travel in April compared with the same month in the previous year.