Nine-month residential electricity consumption drops 8.1 pct, as households cut down on energy usage

Romania's national electricity consumption over January - September was 5.7 percent down year-over-year, with household consumption dropping 8.1 percent from the year-ago period, shows data released on Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

In the reporting period, industrial power consumption was 4.9 percent lower, while public lighting consumption advanced 3.2 percent.

The national electricity production was 6.6 percent down, with the hydropower output seeing the steepest decrease, of almost 25 percent, followed by the output of conventional thermal power plants, which was down by 1.1 percent. Conversely, there was an increase in the production of photovoltaic power plants - 3.7 percent, and wind plants - 18.1 percent, told Agerpres.

Electricity imports were 14.2 percent higher, at 6.4 TWh, while exports advanced 9.1 percent to 5.1 TWh, making Romania a net electricity importer.