Sometimes the sheer magnitude of electrical data out there can lead to a staggering feeling of information overload. Given that the EIA just released their Electric Power Annual, it’s important to at least interpret a broad overview of the existing trends in electricity throughout the country.
To name a few data points from the Electric Power Annual, the EIA shows that all total sales of electricity have risen steadily from the years 2008-2018. Full service providers sales have annually risen as well, but energy-only providers prove to be more volatile with their sales numbers. They are down considerably this calendar year.
Revenue has been up every year for the last decade in residential and commercial electricity. And as suspected, residential takes the lion’s share of sales when comparing both commercial and residential spaces.
Texas is the largest user of residential electricity in the country with Florida and California being the next largest, respectively. Texas alone rose by 13,000 (thousand Megawatt hours) in a year’s time. This also means that Texas had the highest revenue derived from electricity sales with 17,610 (million dollars) according to the available data. This is up a lot since just 2017. And California is close behind.
Comparing with Global Energy Consumption
To use the predominantly increasing figures from the Power Annual and contrast it with the Global Energy Consumption report that the EIA just released provides a clear case that energy consumption is simply rising around all together. This isn’t that surprising given our increasing population, but it’s important to take note of.
Additionally, the EIA thinks that as standards of living are rising throughout the world, so too electricity demand will rise commensurately.
China, Russia, and India will lead the pack for non-Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries with a monumental 2.5% increase in building electricity usage per year from now until 2050. Conversely, OECD countries (like America, Australia, and Canada) will only rise by 0.6% every year because of more efficient technology and buildings.
By the time 2050 rolls around, OECD countries will decrease energy consumption by 3% and non-OECD countries will almost double their consumption. These are highly contingent on socioeconomic development and higher population densities.
Perhaps we all intuitively know that with an increase in population marks an increase in energy consumption. But as technology gets better and the world more climate conscious, we will have to check in with EIA projections in years to come to see if estimates continue along the same trajectory.