BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 10. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts that electricity sales to end-use customers in the US will increase by 2 percent in 2024 compared to 2023, and by 1 percent in 2025, Trend reports.
According to the agency, this growth comes after a 2-percent decrease in electricity sales in 2023 compared to 2022.
The forecasted increase in electricity consumption is expected across all major sectors, with a particularly strong growth of 4 percent forecasted in the residential sector for this year, the agency said. Much of this growth in residential electricity usage is expected during the summer months, as hotter weather is anticipated with a 7-percent increase in forecasted cooling degree days in the second and third quarters of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
Meanwhile, for non-residential customers in the commercial and industrial sectors, electricity sales are expected to grow by 2 percent annually in 2024 and 1 percent in 2025. However, some regions may see slower growth in non-residential electricity demand due to high office vacancies compared to pre-pandemic levels, the EIA noted.
On the other hand, areas with new large computing customers like data centers are expected to drive faster growth in total non-residential electricity consumption, the agency added. The West South Central and West North Central Census Divisions are projected to contribute significantly to non-residential electricity sales growth in both 2024 and 2025.
