In the Czech Republic, businesses reduced their consumption of natural gas by nearly a fifth last year, totaling 4.61 billion cubic meters. The data, collected by the Czech Statistical Office (CSO) from companies with 20 or more employees, showed a 19.6% decrease in natural gas consumption compared to the previous year. This decline was notably influenced by the geopolitical situation and the resulting surge in market gas prices, triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February last year.
Across various sectors where natural gas is predominantly used, consumption witnessed a decline. The energy sector and the production of non-metallic mineral products, which includes glass manufacturing, remained the largest consumers of this energy source.
In the same vein, business electricity consumption experienced a slight decrease, decreasing by 0.8% to 45.4 terawatt hours. However, the service sector saw an increase in electricity consumption year-on-year, according to the statistics.
Meanwhile, the consumption of hard coal among companies dropped by 10.6%, with 5.1 million tonnes consumed in the previous year, compared to over 5.7 million in 2021. Conversely, brown coal consumption by enterprises saw a 13% year-on-year increase, reaching 31.9 million tonnes last year.
In terms of transportation fuels, businesses consumed 11.6% more motor gasoline, amounting to 195.8 million liters, compared to the previous year. On the other hand, diesel consumption recorded a 1.7% decrease, totaling 2.5 billion liters. However, the industrial sector experienced a slight increase in diesel consumption compared to 2021, with approximately half of this consumption occurring in the transport sector.
Source: novinky.cz
