US electricity generation for residential commercial customers set a new record in 2018, as severe winter cold and summer heat helped push demand past a 2007 pre-recession peak, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2019) US electricity generation for residential commercial customers set a new record in 2018, as severe winter cold and summer heat helped push demand past a 2007 pre-recession peak, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report on Wednesday"Last year was the first time total utility-scale generation surpassed the pre-recession peak of 4,157 million MWh [megawatt hours] set in 2007," the report said. "The increased demand for electricity in 2018 - including record demand in the commercial and residential sectors - is largely attributable to cold winters and a hot summer."
About 87 percent of US households cool their homes in the summer with air conditioning, and about 35 percent of homes use electricity as their Primary heating source during the winter, the report added.
Retail electricity sales to residential users rose 6 percent from the previous year, the report said.
Electricity use in commercial buildings was also affected by the weather but to a lesser degree, increasing 2 percent from 2017, according to the report.
