Latvia is one of the leaders in the European Union (EU) when it comes to reducing gas consumption, as reported by LTV programme Panorāma on Thursday, the 29th of December. According to available data, by December 2022 Latvia consumed 30% less natural gas than it did in 11 months of 2022.
Electricity consumption went down as well – between January and November consumers in Latvia consumed 4% less electricity when compared with the same period of 2022. Oil consumption went up by nearly 7% in the first ten months of 2022. At the same time, consumption in retail trade went down slightly – to almost 2%.
As previously reported, between August and November Latvia reduced gas consumption by more than 43% when compared with average consumption volumes in the first five months of 2021, according to data from Eurostat. This data indicates that gas consumption the EU went down by 20.1% in August-November period of 2022.
During this period of time, gas consumption went down the most in Finland – by 52.7%. Latvia is next with 43.2% and Lithuania is third with a drop of 41.6%.
Estonia is fourth, as gas consumption in this country has dropped by more than 35%. In a situation when it was necessary to look for alternatives to Russian gas, EU member states decided to voluntarily reduce gas consumption by at least 15% between the 1st of August 2022 and the 31st of March 2023.
Between August and November gas consumption was slashed by at least 15% by 18 EU member states, according to Eurostat data. Six countries – Czech Republic, Ireland, Portugal and Spain among them – reduced their gas consumption by more than 15%. Two countries increased their gas consumption – Malta (by 7.1%) and Slovakia (by 2.6%). Cyprus is the only EU member state that does not use gas at all.
Also read: Gas tariffs will increase for households with low consumption in Latvia next year