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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on electricity demand in Croatia

Electricity as the energy form of final energy consumption is necessary for functioning of economy and society in general. It is an input in creating added value for goods and services in national economies. The correlation between electricity consumption and gross domestic product, as the most significant macroeconomic variable, is strong. Electricity indisputably has a positive impact on a nation’s standard and its growth as it is necessary for functioning of the life of individuals and families in their households with regard to their technological equipment. The importance of electricity is also seen in exceptional, extraordinary circumstances where significant, sudden “disturbances” in functioning of societies and countries in general occur. One of such extraordinary disturbances is an occurrence of various pandemics. The latest one appeared in the first quarter of 2020 in almost all countries in the world. Croatia was no exception, and the pandemic has impacted its functioning. For the first time in the most recent history of the world all countries were brought to a state of isolation from other countries in the world and a shutdown of almost the entire economic activity i.e. the lockdown. The COVID-19 pandemic broke out in China in December 2019, and its world-wide spread, with the exponential growth in the number of infected and death cases as pandemic consequences, has impacted a significant decrease in economic activity as well as changes in people's habits. Decreasing in population activities and “shutting down” economies has resulted in a significant impact on all goods and service markets, both on the side of supply and demand. The impact has spread onto energy markets, crude oil and electricity market, where the demand has decreased significantly. The decrease in electricity demand is different from country to country. In addition, significant changes in load characteristics with respect to consumption categories, household and enterprise, have occurred. The paper analyses the stated changes in Croatia in the first four months of 2020 in relation to a three-year average, from 2017 to 2019. In addition, changes in a daily electricity demand in selected EU countries which have also been pandemic-hit are analysed. Significant changes in daily diagrams of household and enterprise consumption with minor changes in total electricity consumption have been noticed.

load characteristics ; electricity demand ; power capacity ; electricity consumption ; pandemic ; COVID19

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