Abstract: In 2023, the growth rate of total societal electricity consumption reached 6.8%, 1.6 percentage points higher than the GDP growth rate; at the same time, the growth rate of industrial electricity consumption was also significantly higher than the growth rate of the added value of industries above designated size. This phenomenon is relatively rare in the past decade. What is the reason behind this?
This brief attempts to argue that the rapid expansion of the new energy industry and the fast growth of electric vehicle charging demand have changed the pattern of electricity consumption in the whole society, which are the main reasons for the relatively high growth of total social and industrial electricity consumption.
It is estimated that about 430 billion kWh of the total electricity consumption in 2023 came from new energy-related consumption, including approximately 360 billion kWh for the production of major new energy products and about 70 billion kWh for electric vehicle charging. This amounts to an increase of nearly 150 billion kWh from the previous year, accounting for about 25% of the total increase in societal electricity consumption. Excluding new energy-related consumption, the growth rate of total societal electricity consumption in 2023 would drop by 1.5 percentage points to 5.3%, which is essentially consistent with the GDP growth rate (5.2%). After excluding the electricity consumption for the production of new energy products, the growth rate of industrial electricity consumption in 2023 was 4.7%, aligning with the growth rate of the added value of industries above designated size (4.6%).
