§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Energy what has been the reduction in electricity consumption, expressed in: (a) percentage and (b) numerical terms, for each of the years 1974, 1975 and to the latest date in 1976.
§ Mr. EadieThe latest information available for electricity consumption in584W the United Kingdom is that for January-March 1976. The following are the figures for 1974, 1975 and January-March 1976.
Consumption* Terawatt hours† Reduction on previous corresponding period Per cent. 1974 219.64 4.0 1975 218.91 0.3 January to March 1976 (prov.) 66.41 0.0 * Excluding thermal electricity generated by industrial establishments i.e. the figures are on the same basis as those in Table 69 of the Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics 1975, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. † 1 Terawatt hour equals 1,000,000,000 kilowatt hours.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Energy what forecasts have been made of likely consumption for each of the next 10 years; and what has been the actual consumption for each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. EadieThe Department prepares various forecasts covering a wide range of assumptions. The way in which these forecasts are prepared was described in evidence to the Select Committee on Science and Technology (Energy Resources Sub-Committee) in the House of Commons paper 155-viii. The Department's paper "UK Energy Supply and Demand Prospects" presented at the National Energy Conference estimated that total electricity consumption in the United Kingdom could rise to about 260 Terawatthours (TWh) in 1980 and over 400 TWh by 1990.
The figures for total electricity consumption in the United Kingdom in the last 10 years are as follows:
TWh 1966 … … … … 160.65 1967 … … … … 165.75 1968 … … … … 178.20 1969 … … … … 189.86 1970 … … … … 199.00 1971 … … … … 204.56 1972 … … … … 211.55 1973 … … … … 226.48 1974 … … … … 219.64 1975 … … … … 218.91