Electricity consumption edged up 0.2% in 2013 after two years of decline but if variations in temperature and the number of working days are both taken into account, the growth was close to zero.
According to data from REN, which runs Portugal’s national grid, after a fall of 1.7% in electricity consumption in the first half of 2013 there was a recovery in the second half of the year which meant that the year overall saw a rise of 0.2%.
2013 was positive for the production of renewable energy with wind farms producing above average results making it the largest and most efficient producer in the sector.
In fact the production of renewable energy supplied 57% of Portugal’s needs, with old fashioned and polluting coal-fired power stations producing 22%, gas-fired power stations 14%, with the remaining 6% covered by direct imports of electricity. This mix in an enviable one and reduces Portugal's former reliance on imported fuels to generate electricity.
In the cold December days of 2013 the national consumption of electricity went up 3.9% year on year but the overall annual figure shows no great increase as remaining industries are operating below capacity and households are careful about what appliances they use as prices have rocketed, a fact that the REN report omitted.
The reduction in the tonnage of imported fossil fuels burned to produce electrical energy is welcome but the economics conspire to offer the consumer little benefit.
Portugal's energy costs at a domestic level are well out of kilter with the income levels of its population with many of the poorest in society unable to afford electricity at all, and certainly unable to have it reconnected if the bills have piled up and they have been cut off.
Above inflation increases year on year, plus a 2.8% rise in Jan 2014, and a deregulated market that has given a few euros off for a few, do not give the nation's taxpayers any credit for supporting EDP and REN when these companies were state owned.
Now that Portugal's electricity business is controlled by Chinese shareholders the genie is out of the bottle and the weak industry regulator already faces a court challenge over one of its decisions to fine EDP for faulty meters. The money gained from the sale of these essential public services was spent long ago on Troika loan interest payments.
