Assessing the Impact of Lockdown Due to COVID-19 on the Electricity Consumption of a Housing Development in the UK

Abstract

In March 2020, the United Kingdom (UK) government ruled that householders must stay home as a response to the COVID-19 outbreak to help flatten the curve of the epidemic and reduce the exponential growth of the virus. Commercial activities, workplaces and schools were obliged to temporarily close in compliance with the government rules. This first and most restrictive lockdown took place from late March to early May 2020 when occupants had to stay in their homes except for very restricted essential activities. Two other lockdowns were introduced in November 2020 and January 2021, alongside with a range of restrictive measures during 2020. This offered an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the impact of a prolonged period of occupancy on household electricity consumption. In this work, the authors compared electricity consumption data collected from 21 energy-efficient houses in Nottingham, UK, during these lockdown periods to the same period in previous year. The findings indicated that the monthly electricity consumption in April 2020, during the strictest lockdown, increased approximately 5% in comparison to the same period in 2019. The daily electricity consumption profile during this lockdown showed earlier and longer peaks in the evenings with the emergence of a new midday peak in comparison to typical daily peaks prior to lockdown. The findings supported the idea that electricity consumption is increased as a result of the proportion of time residents spend in their homes and this corresponded to 17% more in 2020-2021, when restrictive measures were in place.

The impact of COVID-19 on household energy consumption in England and Wales from April 2020 – March 2022

“…On average, the pandemic and resulting lockdown restrictions increased electricity in both of the two years since the start of lockdown 1. On average electricity use increased by 10.2% in the first year; lower than the 17% increase found in [6] (compared to the previous year for 21 energy-efficient homes in Nottingham). Year 2 saw a smaller increase of 4.6% on average; not a result for which the literature offers a comparison.…”

“…Another UK study considered April 2020 -January 2021, but was limited to 21 energyefficient homes [6]. We find a significant gap in the literature for a larger, longitudinal (2-year) study of the impacts of COVID-19 on both gas and electricity consumption from households in England and Wales using robust methods.…”

“…To avoid some of these issues, other studies compared the lockdown period with the same period in the preceding year(s) (e.g. [6], [12]). Historical trends from 2017 -2020 were compared by [13], [20].…”

“…Note that in [5] most included long-term sick or disabled or retired residents, a group likely to spend more time at home before the pandemic than the national average. 21 energy-efficient homes in Nottingham, England were found to have increased their electricity consumption by 5% in April 2020 and by 17% on average from April 2020 -January 2021 (change calculated by comparing with the previous year) [6]. The authors also noted a shift to "earlier and longer peaks in the evenings" and "the emergence of a new midday peak".…”

“…We find a significant gap in the literature for a larger, longitudinal (2-year) study of the impacts of COVID-19 on both gas and electricity consumption from households in England and Wales using robust methods. Our work provides additional novelty in using a larger and more representative sample than in [5], [6], more sophisticated impact estimation methods than those in the wider literature on the impact of COVID-19 on energy consumption (counterfactual modelling that accounts for weather and calendar effects), where impact on different household/dwelling types is considered, and both total and timing of energy consumption is analysed.…”