Rio de Janeiro – Electric power consumption reported by Brazil’s National Interconnected System (SIN, in the Portuguese acronym) was up 2.2% in 2014 from 2013. It was the smallest year-on-year increase since the 1.1% rate seen in 2009 from 2008, at the height of the world financial crisis.
The data are part of the Monthly Electric Energy Survey released this Friday (30th) by the Energy Research Company (EPE). The survey shows power usage was up 3.4% in 2013, a near-stable rate compared with 2012’s 3.5%.
The main culprit of the weak energy sector performance last year was Brazil’s industry, whose performance fell well short of its own early projections. In 2014, industry consumption dropped by 3.6% from 2013.
To the EPE, although energy consumption did grow at positive rates in Q1, the slowdown in industrial production “worsened in the second half, spreading to other segments and reflecting on industrial electricity usage as a whole.”
The slowdown was partly offset by growing demand from retail and services and households, ultimately ensuring a 2.2% growth in overall demand throughout last year.
In 2014, retail and services demand was up 7.3% from 2013, once again topping energy consumption growth. At some points during the year, high temperatures played a role, particularly in Q1, with peaks of up to 16% in consumption growth in relation to the comparable months in 2013, the EPE has reported.
Structural aspects also helped drive up retail consumption, such as expansion of shopping malls, modernization and growth in airport traffic, and hotel industry expansion.
“For its part, household consumption was up 5.7% from 2013, due to growing numbers of household consumers and air conditioners, which can be ascertained by a sharp increase in power consumption in January and February, mostly in the South and Southeast,” the EPE says.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
