Burnley households consume 7.3% less energy than in 2015

Greenpeace and the Energy Saving Trust said a drop in electricity consumption nationally was good news for the environment, but that there is more to do in improving energy efficiency.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy data reveals that Burnley families consumed 3,411 kilowatt hours (kWh) on average in 2019 – the equivalent of running around eight fridge-freezers each over the year.

That was 7.3% down from 3,679 kWh in 2015 – more than the North West’s average drop of 7.2% over the period.

Despite an increase in the number of domestic electricity meters, from 39,700 in 2015, to 41,400 last year, there was a drop of 5% in the total amount of electricity sold in Burnley.

The data is based on the aggregation of meter readings and does not include electricity consumed directly from on-site generation, such as that generated by solar panels.

Across Great Britain, households consumed 7.6% less electricity than four years ago.

The biggest decrease was in Scotland (-12.4%), while the East of England lagged behind in reduction (-6.3%).

Sam Chetan-Welsh, from Greenpeace UK, said: “The more efficient we get with our energy use, the better chance we stand of cleaning up the supply and saving ourselves from catastrophe."

There is further scope for society to reduce its electricity consumption and boost employment by insulating homes, he added, and continue to improve electrical goods’ efficiency through better product design.

A spokesman for Energy Saving Trust said reduction in electricity demand would help in the transition to a low carbon society.

"One of the leading environmental issues with electricity production is the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels in power stations.

"Carbon emissions from electricity production have fallen in the last decade.

"This is because fossil-fuelled power stations, in particular coal, have gone offline and there has been a huge increase in renewably-powered generation from wind farms, local renewable electricity generation including those from solar PV panel systems.

"Hopefully, our future will look to electricity as a key environmental source of energy to not only power our homes, devices, appliances and lights, but also to charge our electric cars and heat our home with heat pumps."