Impact of the Lockdown during the COVID-19 Pandemic on Electricity Use by Residential Users

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown can be regarded as a forced social experiment, the results of which show how to use energy under specific conditions. During this period, there was a reduction in electricity consumption at the level of the power system, but a different specificity distinguishes the group of household users. The article aims at presenting and analysing the identified issues concerning residential electricity users based on the experience from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Data from energy meters from almost 7000 flats in Warsaw’s housing estates during the lockdown in 2020 and the analogous period before the pandemic were used. The analysis showed that, on average, residential users staying practically the whole day in their flats increased their energy consumption, but without increasing their average daily peak power, smoothing the profile in the morning hours to the level reaching the peak power that had occurred in the analogous period before the lockdown. The peak power of the sections feeding the different numbers of dwellings also remained practically unchanged during the lockdown compared to the pre-pandemic period. The pressure to work and educate remotely should contribute to an increase in the digital competence of society, which may result in an increased interest in new forms of activity and cooperation based on demand-side response and prosumption mechanisms, with digital settlements for energy exchange and services.

Empirical Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19 Social Distancing on Residential Electricity Consumption Based on Demographic Characteristics and Load Shape

“…As a result, an average increase of 0.3% in the hourly average energy consumption is influenced by a unit increase in the time-varying reproduction number of COVID-19. This result might seem rather low compared to the increase rate presented in previous studies [8,[14][15][16]. However, unlike other countries, Korea has responded to the spread of COVID-19 through social distancing rather than lock-down [37].…”

“…Therefore, the increase in household electricity consumption would be relatively small as Koreans could move more freely during the COVID-19 pandemic than people from other countries. Furthermore, whereas previous studies showed a large percentage of change by estimated in specific industries, regions, and national sectors [8,[14][15][16][37][38][39], this study estimated the COVID-19 impact on the hourly electricity usage of each household during the social distancing period.…”

“…In addition, there are the same patterns as previous studies. As like [16,39], In morning hours, patterns are shown the negative change in energy consumption due to work from home and remote classes. However, previous studies showed the greatest impact in the daytime, otherwise in this paper, when subdivided by pattern and analyzed, some groups were more affected by social distancing during the night-time hours.…”

Determinants of Managerial Competences Transformation in the Polish Energy Industry

“…Moreover, Rybak and Rybak studied the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gaseous and solid air pollutant concentrations and emissions in Poland [47]. Bielecki et al studied the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on electricity use by residential users [48].…”

The Impact of COVID-19 on Electricity Demand Profiles: A Case Study of Selected Business Clients in Poland

“…In the body of literature, there are studies of the impact of the pandemic on electricity consumption in various groups of end-consumers based on real measurements. Such research was conducted among households' inhabitants, an important group of consumers, who have changed electricity demand during the pandemic [31]. Other similar works present studies of the COVID-19 pandemic's influence on household electricity consumption in China [32], Spain [33], and Canada [34].…”