Global changes in electricity consumption during COVID-19

Understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic has altered electricity consumption can provide insights into society's responses to future shocks and other extreme events. We quantify changes in electricity consumption in 58 different countries/regions around the world from January-October 2020 and examine how those changes relate to government restrictions, health outcomes, GDP, mobility metrics, and electricity sector characteristics in different countries. We cluster the timeseries of electricity consumption changes to identify impact groupings that capture systematic differences in timing, depth of initial changes, and recovery rate, revealing substantial heterogeneity. Results show that stricter government restrictions and larger decreases in mobility (particularly retail and recreation) are most tightly linked to decreases in electricity consumption, although these relationships are strongest during the initial phase of the pandemic. We find indications that decreases in electricity consumption relate to pre-pandemic sensitivity to holidays, suggesting a new direction for future research. [Display omitted] •Electricity consumption changes during COVID-19 are estimated for 58 regions•Impacts on electricity consumption are highly heterogeneous across regions•Consumption changes are tightly linked to mobility and government restrictions•Consumption changes also relate to a region's pre-pandemic sensitivity to holidays Energy resources; Energy policy; Energy sustainability; Energy systems