Electricity use plummets in Laois homes as prices jump
The average amount of electricity used in Laois homes dropped by nearly 15% last year despite an increase in the number of meters.
New Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show that 3,295 residential median kilowatt hours were consumed in Laois in 2022 down from 3,745 the previous year. The usage has not been as low since before 2015.
The decrease in usage was recorded despite the fact that 33,072 residential meters were installed in Laois at the end of 2022. This was up by 559 on the previous year.
While residential power use fell in Laois, non-residential electricity consumption went in the opposite direction.
Non-residential metered electricity rose from 164 gigawatt-hours in 2021 to 167 in 2022. The number of Laois non-residential meters rose by 67 to 4,938 last year.
Nationally the CSO said that residential metered electricity consumption was 8,447 GWh in 2022, a 9% decrease compared with 2021.
It said median residential metered electricity consumption was 3,177 kWh in 2022, a 12% decrease from the 3,594 kWh median residential consumption in 2021. Both the total and the median residential electricity consumption decreased in every county between 2021 and 2022.
The CSO reported that total metered electricity consumption was 29,500 GWh in 2022, an increase of 3.5% compared with 2021.
It found that large energy users, such as data centres, accounted for 27% of metered electricity consumption in 2022. Consumption by large energy users increased by 20% between 2021 and 2022 and by 116% between 2015 and 2022.
The urban residential tariff group accounted for 18% and the rural residential tariff group for 10% of total metered electricity consumption in 2022.
Dublin postal districts had the highest proportion of residential consumption in 2022 at 19%, followed by Cork (12%), Dublin county (6%), Galway (6%) and Kildare (5%).
Around 13% of residential customers consumed less than 1,000 kilowatt hours in 2022 which was less than one-third of the median consumption of 3,177 kWh