In April 2020, the month which had the biggest impact on the evolution of electricity consumption, Romania recorded a consumption of 3,742 GWh, compared to the levels of over 4,200 – 4,800 GWh recorded in other months of April between 2016 and 2019.
Since mid-March 2020, EU Member States have taken restrictive measures to slow down the spread of COVID-19. These measures included the closure of factories, schools, restaurants, bars, hotels and requiring people to stay at home. Many companies lowered production levels due to a lack of demand or because of interruption to their supply chain. These measures were in full force during the entire month of April 2020.
As a result, April data show a lower electricity consumption in most Member States. The total EU electricity consumption in April 2020 was 11.2% lower than the lowest April value recorded between 2016 and 2019. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, Italy was not able to report monthly electricity data. Therefore, the EU aggregate includes only 26 of the 27 Member States.
Electricity consumption showed very low levels in a number of countries which were hit by the COVID-19 crisis and therefore introduced more restrictive measures, in particular France (-15.0%), Spain (-14.8%), Luxembourg (-13.7%). A further seven Member States show a reduction in electricity consumption of more than 10% compared to the lowest April level for the previous 5 years. For four Member States, the reductions were between 5% and 10%, while for a further eight Member States, consumption fell by up to 5%.
Interestingly, for four Member States electricity consumption was only the second lowest in comparison to other months of April between 2016 and 2020.