ALL ABOUT U.S. ELECTRICITY

U.S. Electricity Consumption

March 2013 (U.S. Energy Information Administration)

“Preliminary data from the EIA Electric Power Monthly indicate that 7.9 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired generation capacity was retired in the electric industry during 2012, which represents 2.5 percent of installed coal capacity at the beginning of the year (and about 0.8 percent of total generating unit capacity). Two-thirds of the coal capacity retired in 2012 was located in the Midwest and Southeast regions of the United States…

“In comparison, the U.S. electric industry retired 2.6 GW of coal capacity in 2011 and retired an average of 1.0 GW each year between 2006 and 2010. The coal-fired capacity retired during 2012 was offset somewhat by the addition of five new coal-fired generating units with a combined capacity of 3.6 GW.”

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“EIA projects U.S. residential sales of electricity during the upcoming summer months (June, July, and August) will average 6 percent below sales during the summer of 2012. EIA assumes that U.S. cooling degree days during June, July, and August 2013 will total about 10 percent lower than last summer and about 4 percent lower than the prior 10-year average…

“Overall, U.S. residential electricity sales decline by 0.6 percent during 2013 but are projected to grow by 1.0 percent in 2014. U.S. retail electricity sales to the commercial sector increase by 0.5 percent in 2013 and by 1.1 percent in 2014. Industrial electricity sales increase by 1.6 percent and 1.0 percent in 2013 and 2014, respectively...”

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