U.S. power demand seen sliding 1% in 2023 on milder weather
April 11 (Reuters) - U.S. power consumption is expected to slip about 1% in 2023 from the previous year as milder weather slows usage from the record high hit in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday.
EIA projected electricity demand is on track to slide to 4,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2023 from a historic high of 4,048 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2022, before rising to 4,062 billion kWh in 2024 as economic growth ramps up.
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Less demand, coupled with more electricity generation from cheap renewable power sources and lower natural gas prices, is forecast to slash wholesale power prices this year, the EIA said.
The on-peak wholesale price at the North hub in Texas’s ERCOT power market is expected to average about $35 per megawatt-hour (MWh) in 2023 compared with an average of nearly $80/MWh in 2022.
As capacity for renewables like solar and wind ramp up, and as natural gas prices ease, the EIA said it expects coal-fired power generation to be 17% less in the spring of 2023 than in the spring of 2022. (Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)