Electricity consumption grew 0.2 per cent in the Azores in this year’s first quarter, compared to the same period of 2008, reaching a total of 184,744 MWh.
According to the regional electricity company EDA, the commercial and service sector (which includes public services) absorbed 43.1 percent of the total consumption, while the domestic sector absorbed 35.6 per cent and the industrial sector absorbed 15.8 per cent.
With regard to electricity production, the increase that was registered in the first three months of 2009 reached 0.5 per cent, benefiting from a 0.3 per cent increase in the energy supplied to the network by the geothermal power plants from S. Miguel Island.
During the first quarter, geothermal production represented 21.2 per cent of EDA’s global production and 38.9 per cent of that of S. Miguel.