Electricity and gas consumption fell sharply last year compared to 2022. Electricity generation increased throughout 2023, but gas production decreased. For the first time in more than 20 years, more electricity was exported abroad than imported, according to regulatory body E-Control. Gas storage facilities are full.
➤ Read more: Electronic control: Electricity and gas network fees will rise as of 2024
Electricity and gas consumption have actually been declining month over month in the past few months. In the entire calendar year 2023, approximately 5 percent less electricity was consumed in Austria at 60.7 TWh compared to the previous year.
Gas consumption decreased by 12.5% to 75.6 terawatt hours, according to E-Control data. A similar picture emerged in December 2023: electricity consumption fell by 1.5% and gas consumption by 9%.
Electricity generation in the country increased
Domestic electricity generation increased by about 6 percent to 71.15 terawatt hours in 2023 as a whole. The share of hydropower stations in the total electricity production in the previous year was 40.9 terawatt-hours, or about 57.7%, and thermal power stations 19%.
Wind turbine generation contributed 11.3% of the total production.
Austria imported 21.55 TWh of electricity last year, a quarter less than in 2022. In contrast, at 21.62 TWh, it exported almost 9 percent more electricity than in the previous year.
“This also means that in 2023 Austria will export more electricity to neighboring countries than it imports for the first time in more than 20 years,” says energy regulator E-Control.
For gas, annual domestic production (including biogas feed) fell by 10 percent to about 6.3 TWh. At the end of 2023, the gas storage content was about 90.8 TWh, nearly 9 percent higher than the previous year. In the entire calendar year 2023, approximately 168 TWh of gas were imported from abroad and 90.2 TWh were exported.
