Terna expects to save 555.8 million kWh in electricity consumption in the next 7 months due to daylight saving time

ROME, 30-3-2015 — /EuropaWire/ — During the daylight saving period, that will begin the night between Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29, by turning the hands of the clock one hour ahead, Terna expects a total saving in electricity consumption equal to 555.8 million kWh in the next 7 months.

This amount of electricity corresponds to the average annual consumption of 200 thousand families. In terms of costs, considering that one kWh costs an average of 16.21 eurocents to the end user net of taxes, the estimated economic saving resulting from daylight saving time for 2015 is expected to be over 90 million euros.

From 2004 to 2014, the country’s overall saving was of nearly 6 billion euros and 720 million kWh, equal to a value of approximately 990 million euros.

During the spring-summer period, April is the month that marked the highest energy saving with 144.2 million kWh reduced (equal to 26% of the total). In autumn, the highest energy saving occurred in October with 147.4 million kWh saved. This is owing to the fact that in April the days are “shorter” in terms of natural light, compared to the months of the period. By moving the hands of the clock ahead by one hour, the use of artificial light is delayed at a time when working activities are still in progress. During the summer months, from June to August, contrarily, the days are already longer compared to April and the “delayed” effect in turning on the lights occurs in the evening, when working activities have ended for the most part, leading to less significant results in terms of electricity saving. It should also be noted that the greatest electricity demand during the hottest summer months is caused by the use of air conditioners, independently from daylight saving time, since this is exclusively linked to climate and temperature factors and not to the greater number of hours of natural light.

In the home page of Terna’s website, www.terna.it, the “load curve” is displayed, that allows tracing electricity consumption in Italy in real time. Solar time will return the night between October 24 and October 25, 2015.

External Relations and Communications
Ph. +39 0683139081
Fax +39 0683138372
e-mail: ufficio.stampa@terna.it