Household electricity consumption in the UK has been annually declining for most of the century. Households in the United Kingdom used to consume over 100 terawatt-hours of electricity every year. However, in 2022, domestic electricity consumption dropped below 100 terawatt-hours and it amounted to approximately 92 terawatt-hours in 2023.

The East of England accounted for the highest average household electricity consumption in Great Britain in 2022. That year, it added up to 3,720 kilowatt-hours per household. In comparison, households in the North East of England had the lowest average consumption, at 2,906 kilowatt-hours per household. End user consumption of electricity in the UK Despite continual annual declines in consumption since 2005, households have remained the largest electricity end-users in the UK since 2005. In 2020, amidst lockdown measures following the coronavirus outbreak, the gap between domestic and industrial consumption grew even wider. In 2022, domestic electricity consumption in the UK amounted to 96 terawatt-hours, while industrial consumption recorded the lowest figure of the century, at some 85 terawatt-hours. Declining electricity consumption in the UK Electricity consumption in the UK has seen a dramatic decrease in the past two decades, at least partially related to increased efficiency in equipment and distribution. In 2022, consumption from all electricity suppliers in the UK stood at 275 terawatt-hours. Projections indicate that the UK's electricity consumption will resume a growing trend after 2025, to surpass 32 million tons of oil equivalent in 2040.

In the past decade, electricity consumption in the United Kingdom has been on the decline. Households have consistently ranked as the largest electricity final users in the country. In 2023, households in the UK consumed 93 terawatt-hours of electricity, or roughly 35 percent of the total consumption. Meanwhile, the industrial sector's consumption of electricity has fallen from 117 terawatt-hours in 2005 to 86 terawatt-hours in 2023.

The consumption of electricity in the United Kingdom has fluctuated on an annual and seasonal basis throughout the period depicted, and indicated a general downward trend. Demand was consistently higher in the winter months, peaking each year in January or December. In April 2024, electricity consumption in the UK amounted to **** terawatt-hours. Domestic users consume the most electricity Although the industrial sector's electricity demand was higher between 1990 and 2005, domestic consumers have since reclaimed their spot as the largest electricity end users in the UK. East and South East England were the regions with the highest domestic electricity consumption in Great Britain, with more than *** megawatt-hours consumed per household in 2022. Declining electricity demand in the UK Electricity consumption in the UK has seen a mostly continual decrease since the turn of the century. After peaking at ***** terawatt hours in 2005, consumption has fallen below *** terawatt hours in 2020. This is despite the UK's population growing by approximately seven million during this period. Projections on electricity consumption in the UK show that the decreasing trend will last until at least 2025.

The United Kingdom’s electricity use has been declining since peaking at *** terawatt-hours in 2005. In 2024, the UK's electricity increased on the previous year, amounting to *** terawatt-hours. Electricity consumption in the UK typically follows a seasonal trend, peaking in the winter months. How electricity-intensive is the UK? Despite the continual decline in electricity consumption, the UK remains one of the largest electricity consumers in the world. In terms of per capita electricity consumption, however, the UK ranks low in comparison to other European countries such as Norway, Germany, and France. In 2023, it registered an average of ***** kilowatt-hours per person. The race towards a clean power mix In 2010, gas and coal accounted for roughly ** percent of the UK's power mix. Since then, alongside the EU Renewables Directive, the UK agreed and created its own National Renewable Energy Plan, to increase the use of renewable sources and decrease its fossil fuel dependence. In the past decade, the share of energy consumption in the UK attributable to renewable energy increased slightly, although it was still a small percentage out of the total in 2023.

Data showing the counts and average consumption of domestic energy consumption in Plymouth.

The UK's energy use by industry (SIC 2007 group - around 130 categories), source (for example, industrial and domestic combustion, aircraft, road transport and so on - around 80 categories) and fuel (for example, anthracite, peat, natural gas and so on - around 20 categories), 1990 to 2023.

The United Kingdom’s demand for electricity has been declining since 2005, standing at 318.65 terawatt-hours in 2024. Factors for this decrease include declining population growth in the country, energy efficiency regulations, energy-efficient lighting, and changing consumer habits. Domestic electricity consumption in the UK Households are the largest electricity end-users in the UK. In fact, domestic consumption is the only sector that registered year-over-year growth over the past few years, reaching 93 terawatt-hours in 2023. Nevertheless, the average domestic electricity consumption varied from region to region. Consumption was highest in the East, South East, and South West of England, each registering an average of more than 3,600 kilowatt-hours per household. Declining electricity generation in the UK Keeping up with the decline in demand, electricity generation in the UK has also been decreasing. In 2023, approximately 293 terawatt-hours were produced, the lowest output in at least three decades. Although electricity generation has been declining, renewable generation has increased significantly. As of 2023, renewables accounted for the largest electricity generation capacity in the UK, and that capacity is forecast to more than double by 2050. By 2025, the use of coal is expected to have been completely phased out.

Detailed household load and solar generation in minutely to hourly resolution. This data package contains measured time series data for several small businesses and residential households relevant for household- or low-voltage-level power system modeling. The data includes solar power generation as well as electricity consumption (load) in a resolution up to single device consumption. The starting point for the time series, as well as data quality, varies between households, with gaps spanning from a few minutes to entire days. All measurement devices provided cumulative energy consumption/generation over time. Hence overall energy consumption/generation is retained, in case of data gaps due to communication problems. Measurements were conducted 1-minute intervals, with all data made available in an interpolated, uniform and regular time interval. All data gaps are either interpolated linearly, or filled with data of prior days. Additionally, data in 15 and 60-minute resolution is provided for compatibility with other time series data. Data processing is conducted in Jupyter Notebooks/Python/pandas.

time

Energy consumption readings for a sample of 5,567 London Households that took part in the UK Power Networks led Low Carbon London project between November 2011 and February 2014.

Readings were taken at half hourly intervals. Households have been allocated to a CACI Acorn group (2010). The customers in the trial were recruited as a balanced sample representative of the Greater London population.

The dataset contains energy consumption, in kWh (per half hour), unique household identifier, date and time, and CACI Acorn group. The CSV file is around 10GB when unzipped and contains around 167million rows.

Within the data set are two groups of customers. The first is a sub-group, of approximately 1100 customers, who were subjected to Dynamic Time of Use (dToU) energy prices throughout the 2013 calendar year period. The tariff prices were given a day ahead via the Smart Meter IHD (In Home Display) or text message to mobile phone. Customers were issued High (67.20p/kWh), Low (3.99p/kWh) or normal (11.76p/kWh) price signals and the times of day these applied. The dates/times and the price signal schedule is availaible as part of this dataset. All non-Time of Use customers were on a flat rate tariff of 14.228pence/kWh.

The signals given were designed to be representative of the types of signal that may be used in the future to manage both high renewable generation (supply following) operation and also test the potential to use high price signals to reduce stress on local distribution grids during periods of stress.

The remaining sample of approximately 4500 customers energy consumption readings were not subject to the dToU tariff.

More information can be found on the Low Carbon London webpage

Some analysis of this data can be seen here.

This graph illustrates domestic energy use in the United Kingdom (UK) from 1970 to 2017. It shows that domestic energy use has increased just under **** percent since 1970. However, from 2010 to 2017 there was a ** percent decrease in energy use

In comparison, the energy use from industry has been in decline since 1970, dropping from **** Mtoe to a low of **** Mtoe in 2016.

The National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework (NEED) was set up to provide a better understanding of energy use and energy efficiency in domestic and non-domestic buildings in Great Britain. The data framework matches gas and electricity consumption data, collected for BEIS sub-national energy consumption statistics, with information on energy efficiency measures installed in homes, from the Homes Energy Efficiency Database (HEED), Green Deal, the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and the Feed-in Tariff scheme. It also includes data about property attributes and household characteristics, obtained from a range of sources.