The electricity consumption of large and medium-sized companies in the month of March grew 6.5% compared with the same month last year, according to data from the Red Eléctrica Index (IRE). Broken down by sector, industrial consumption grew by 8.4%, and the services sector remained unchanged. The effects of seasonal and working patterns were factored in when calculating this data.

According to the IRE, in the past twelve months, electricity consumption of these companies, after factoring in seasonal and working patterns, increased by 1.6% compared with the same period last year. By sector, industry consumption rose 4% and the services sector fell by 2.8%.

The five activities with the highest electricity consumption have increased their demand during the month compared to March 2013: the metallurgy industry rose 2.8%, the chemical industry 9.7%, the manufacturing of other non-metallic mineral products 14.3%, the food industry 4.7% and the paper industry 3%.

Similarly, activities that contributed most to the growth in consumption of large companies have been: the petroleum refining and coking plants, with an increase of 64.6%, the manufacturing of other non-metallic mineral products (14.3%), the chemical industry (9.7%), metallurgy (2.8%) and the collection, purification and distribution of water (13.5%).

The monthly electricity consumption data for each of the economic activities can be found in more detail in the IRE section of the Red Eléctrica website.

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