Drivers behind Residential Electricity Demand Fluctuations Due to COVID-19 Restrictions

Stephen Snow,Richard Bean,Mashhuda Glencross,Neil Horrocks

doi:10.3390/en13215738

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly reoriented the lives of billions of people across the globe toward working, learning, and subsisting from home. This paper examines the consequences of this disruption of electricity use in Australian households. Using high-frequency electricity monitoring from 491 houses and per-circuit monitoring and in-depth interviews with 17 households, the paper (1) compares changes in energy use before and during COVID-19 lockdown, (2) quantifies the key drivers of changes in energy use experienced by households during lockdown, and (3) tracks households’ interactions with energy use feedback. The findings identify significant increases in certain aspects of household electricity use directly related to COVID-19, including increased cooking and digital device use. Yet despite the government mandate requiring a large proportion of the population to remain at home, overall energy use among the majority of Queensland households monitored actually decreased during lockdown versus prior, driven primarily by a reduction in air conditioner use during lockdown as the weather cooled. Further, despite significant quantified and self-reported changes in energy use, users who had energy use feedback installed accessed their dashboards less during lockdown than they did prior. The paper discusses these results in the context of statistics on COVID-19 related energy demand fluctuations elsewhere, and the implications for the provision of energy use information to residents during significant disruptions such as lockdown.

Highlights

COVID-19 social distancing measures in Australia and across the world have resulted in large sections of the population having to remain at home
In Australia, overall electricity demand fell by 6.7% in March, while residential demand increased by 14% in the state of Victoria [4]
Our results reflect previous findings that national events resulting in people remaining at home can significantly affect energy demand [33]

Summary

Introduction

COVID-19 social distancing measures in Australia and across the world have resulted in large sections of the population having to remain at home. In many areas, this change has resulted in a temporary redistribution of electricity demand away from commercial districts and city centres to residential areas [1] and resulted in economic impacts on consumers through higher usage and higher bills [2]. To assist with utility bills during lockdown, the Queensland Government provided a utility bill assistance package, in which every household in the state received a $200 rebate on their electricity bill to assist with household electricity and water costs [10] This policy was announced by the Deputy Premier as in response to the additional cost in electricity and water of remaining at home [11]. This incentive was available to Queensland households only, with many other states providing targeted support for those affected by COVID-19, but not targeting energy bills

Methods

Results

Conclusion