Household energy consumption across the nation has dropped by nearly 25% between 2005 and 2011, according to a new report by the Office of National Statistics.And the South West is the region that consistently consumes the least domestic energy, while the West Midlands is on average the largest consumer.
Energy consumption statistics are an important means of assessing the impact of changes in environmental policy, structure and regulation of energy companies, public awareness of environmental issues and energy saving initiatives.
The research was based on domestic energy consumption data from 2005 to 2011, produced by the Department of Energy and Climate Change and available on the Neighbourhood Statistics Service website, to explore the geographical variations in mean household energy consumption over time
The study provides an overview of household energy consumption in 2011 and identifies energy consumption in England and Wales and how it varied across the English regions and Wales, as well as providing information about the local authorities that had the highest and lowest levels of energy consumption in 2011.
Analysis is presented to show the breakdown of household energy consumption by type, identifying the proportion of gas and electricity consumed by each region as a proportion of total household energy consumption, and the proportion of Economy 7 electricity consumed as a proportion of all household energy consumption.
The percentage of households in England and Wales that used heating oil, wood or other sources of energy to provide central heating was 6.4%. Wales had the highest proportion of households that used these other sources of energy (11.5%) and the North West had the lowest (3.5%).
Energy consumption from these sources is not included in the domestic energy consumption data. Domestic gas consumption data have been adjusted to take account of regional differences in weather which may have otherwise affected the geographical distribution of energy consumption.
Looking at average household energy consumption (for gas and electricity combined) in the English regions and Wales in 2011, the local authorities that had the highest and lowest household energy consumption have been identified.
In England and Wales overall, average household energy consumption was 19.7 megawatt hours (mWh) per household in 2011.
The East Midlands had an average household energy consumption of 27.5mWh in 2011, considerably higher than the overall figure for England and Wales (19.7mWh). The South West had the lowest energy consumption in 2011 (16.1 megawatt hours per household), which is closer to the overall England and Wales figure than is the East Midlands.
Wales was similar to the South West in 2011, consuming an average of 16.3mWh per household. Regions in the North of England including the North East, North West and Yorkshire and The Humber had similar levels of household energy consumption to each other, but all consumed less household energy, on average, than England and Wales overall.
Rutland was the local authority that had the highest average household energy consumption in 2011 (36.0 mWh per household). In Rutland, household energy consumption was more than three times that of the Isles of Scilly and Ceredigion, the two local authorities which had the lowest energy consumption.
All of the 10 local authorities that had the highest average household energy consumption in 2011 are in the East Midlands. In fact, 16 of the top 20 energyconsuming local authorities are in the East Midlands.
In terms of lowest energy consumption, the local authorities that consumed the least energy in 2011 tended to be in more rural areas than did the highest energy consuming local authorities. The Isles of Scilly was the local authority that had the lowest household energy consumption in 2011 (11.4 mWh per household).
The Isles of Scilly does not receive piped gas which means households here did not have any gas consumption recorded in the data. As a result, the average total household energy consumption would be lower than local authorities in which households receive piped gas.
Two local authorities in London, Tower Hamlets and City of London, appear in the lowest household energy consumption top 10, and this goes against the general pattern of low energy consumption in more rural areas.
Local authorities in rural areas may be more likely to be in relatively isolated areas and so have a higher proportion of households without piped gas than those in less rural areas, and these households may use other sources of energy. As such, this could explain why eight of the top 10 lowest energy consuming local authorities were in Wales or the South West.
Historic energy consumption statistics for households in England and Wales are available for 2005 to 2011 and were used to examine recent trends in subnational household energy consumption.
The study found that average household energy consumption in England and Wales decreased from 26.2 megawatt hours (mWh) in 2005 to 19.7mWh in 2011. This is a decrease of 24.7% over the period.
Within England and Wales, the East Midlands had the highest household energy consumption for every year in the period, but this decreased 29.4% from 39.0mWh per household in 2005 to 27.5mWh in 2011.
This was the largest decrease, in absolute terms of all the English regions and Wales (11.5mWh). However, in percentage terms, the West Midlands had the largest decrease in household energy consumption out of all the English regions and Wales (a fall of 30.0% from 29.0mWh in 2005 to 20.3mWh in 2011).
Over the seven year period, the South West had the lowest average household energy consumption for five of these years. The only two years when the South West did not record the lowest energy consumption were 2005 and 2010, when Wales had the lowest energy consumption per household.
The report says household energy consumption may have fallen in England and Wales in recent years for a number of reasons:
• Household improvements such as better loft and cavity wall insulation have improved energy efficiency
• Introduction of energy rating scales for properties and household appliances, allowing consumers to make informed decisions about their purchases.
• Improved efficiency of gas boilers and condensing boilers to supply properties with both hot water and central heating
• Generally increasing public awareness of energy consumption and environmental issues
• The price of gas and electricity in the UK overall increased in all years apart from 2010, between 2005 and 2011
