Among the Baltic States, Latvia experienced the smallest reduction in consumption: Lithuanian consumption decreased by 2.7% and Estonian by 3.4%.
Latvia's electricity consumption in 2020 was 7 135 520 megawatt hours (MWh), which is 2.21% less than in 2019. For comparison: In 2019 consumption decreased by 1.5%, while consumption grew by 1.8% in 2018 against the previous year's consumption.
“In recent years, electricity consumption in Latvia has been relatively stable, with a year-on-year fluctuation of about two percent. 2020 was not an exception. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on individual consumer groups was different and sometimes great, but overall electricity consumption did not decrease significantly. The most significant impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on consumption was observed in the first six months of last year, when consumption decreased by around 4% but returned to normal levels in the second half of the year”, said Gatis Junghāns, a member of the Augstsprieguma tīkls board.
For the countries of central and southern Europe, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a more significant impact on electricity consumption.
In Germany, for example, consumption decreased by 3.2% in 2020, in Spain by 4.9%, in France by 5%, and in Italy by 7.5%. The decrease is also seen in the Nordic countries – Norway – by 0.5%, Sweden by 2.5% and Finland – by 6.1%, while Denmark's consumption increased by 1.7%.
