Illustrative photo – Steam-gas power plant – illustrative image.
Prague – Electricity production in the Czech Republic fell by 0.7 percent year-on-year to 78.8 terawatt hours (TWh) last year. Even so, the export of electricity abroad prevailed. At the same time, electricity consumption also decreased. They reduced its household use the most, by nine percent year-on-year. Of the companies, large companies saved more. Overall, electricity consumption fell by 3.9 percent. This was announced today by the Energy Regulatory Office (ERÚ).
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According to the data of the office, steam power plants contributed the most to the decrease in electricity production, whose production fell by more than half year-on-year. Pumping stations (down 18.3 percent) and hydroelectric power stations (down 13.1 percent) also produced less electricity. On the contrary, production from solar (increase by 6.7 percent) and wind energy sources (increase by 6.6 percent) and also from steam power plants, i.e. coal-fired power plants (increase by 6.3 percent) recorded an increase. Gas and combustion power plants (by 0.7 percent less) and nuclear power plants (by 0.9 percent more) practically repeated the result of the previous year.
“Even though the amount of electricity produced decreased slightly, the also last year, the export of energy exceeded its import, quite significantly. The annual value of the balance, i.e. the difference between export and import, increased by 22.2 percent, to a total of 13.5 TWh,” said ERO Council Chairman Stanislav Trávníček today.
Electricity consumption fell more significantly last year. Net consumption, which is adjusted for own consumption for electricity production, losses and electricity consumption for pumping, fell by 3.9 percent to 60.4 TWh. There was a similar decline in gross consumption.
Households saved the most, reducing consumption by nine percent year-on-year. The office recorded the largest year-on-year savings for households in June, by almost 18 percent. Large customers at the very high voltage level last year reduced their consumption by 5.5 percent year-on-year, while at the high voltage level the value was lower by 1.5 percent. In the case of entrepreneurs at the low voltage level, consumption decreased by 0.1 percent.
“From our preliminary statistics, it is clear that people in households with electricity saved unprecedentedly last year. The nine percent year-on-year decrease in consumption was the highest in 20 years , when the ERO issues reports on the operation of the electricity system,” noted Trávníček.
According to the Union of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic, last year companies limited their consumption despite the fact that part of their consumption is so-called technological for production, which is difficult to substitute. “Companies were active and looked for ways to save energy or invest in renewable energy sources. This trend will continue this year as well. According to our current survey of almost 140 companies, 59 percent of respondents plan to invest in energy savings and 39 percent want to build their own renewable energy sources, ” said Bohuslav Čížek, director of the economic policy section of the Union of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic.
