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[세종=이데일리 김상윤 기자] Due to the aftermath of Corona 19, electricity sales from January to November last year decreased by 2.4% compared to the same period last year. Accordingly, last year’s annual electricity sales are expected to record negative for two consecutive years.
According to KEPCO’s’November Electric Power Consolidation Report’ on the 11th, electricity sales volume from January to November last year was 46,4243GWh, down 2.4% from the same period last year.
The sales volume was attributed to the decrease in industrial electricity. Industrial industry, which accounts for the largest portion of sales, sold 25,411 GWh, down 4.0% from the same period last year. This is because the factory utilization rate decreased as the economy contracted due to the spread of Corona 19.
The industrial power sales volume, which fell from March to August, fell negatively, temporarily increased in September (2.3%) and continued to decline again. In particular, in May, it fell 9.9% from the same period last year, showing the biggest decline since the financial crisis.
In January-November last year, the sales volume of general electric power, such as self-employed, also decreased by 2.3% from a year ago to 103,743 GWh.
On the other hand, residential use increased by 4.9% to 69,915 GWh. It seems that power consumption has increased as telecommuting has increased due to strengthening social distancing.
Residential electricity sales continued to increase from January to November, excluding August (-5.5%). In September, when the social distancing step 2~2.5 was implemented, it surged by 14.8%.
There is a high possibility that electricity sales will increase again this year as the economy recovers, including the release of the Corona 19 vaccine. In particular, the increase in demand for electric heating due to the’arctic cold wave’ at the beginning of the year is also expected to have some effect.
An official from the power industry explained, “In general, when the economy grows, electricity sales volume rises at the same time.”