Summary of UK Energy Statistics 2019 Q2

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) recently published a statistical press release outlining UK Energy Statistics from Q2 2019 (April to June). We’ve provided a summary of this information to give you a quick idea of what is happening in the UK’s energy market.

Weather adjustments

To make an accurate comparison, temperature adjustments are taken into account when comparing year-on-year.

• The average temperature in Q2 2019 was 1.3 degrees Celsius cooler than the same period a year earlier.
• May and June were particularly cooler than in 2018.

UK energy consumption statistics Q2 2019

• Total primary energy consumption for energy fell by 0.1%.
• However, when adjusted for weather, total primary energy consumption fell by 1.8% between Q2 2019 and Q2 2018.

UK energy production statistics Q2 2019

• Total energy production was 1.9% lower than in Q2 2018.
• Final energy consumption (excluding non-energy use) was 1.2% higher than in Q2 2018.
• Temperature-adjusted, final energy consumption fell by 3.0%.

UK electricity generated in Q2 2019

UK renewable energy generation Q2 2019

• Renewable electricity generation was 27.1 TWh in Q2 2019.
• This is an increase of 9.9% on the 24.6 TWh in the second quarter of 2018.
• Low carbon electricity’s share of electricity generation fell slightly to 52.6%, compared to 53.6% in Q2 2018.
• Renewable electricity capacity was 45.9 GW at the end of Q2 2019. This is a 7.9% increase (3.4 GW) on 2018.
• Two-thirds of the annual increase in renewable electricity capacity came from wind.

Click here for UK renewable generation in 2018.

Supplier switching in Q2 2019

Electricity

• Switching rates increased by 12% in the second quarter of 2019.
• An average of 510,000 households per month switched supplier.

Gas

• Switching rates increased by 6.8%
• An average of 413,000 households per month switched supplier.

New records set for UK energy statistics in Q2 2019:

• New record low for coal generation: 0.6%.
• Coal production fell to a new record low of 0.5 million tonnes (25% lower than Q2 2018).
• Total demand for coal in Q2 2019 fell 22% to a new record low of 1.5 million tonnes.
• Coal consumption by electricity generators was down by 61% in Q2 2019 to a new record low of 0.2 million tonnes.
• The UK was a net importer for all oil products in by 4.0 million tonnes, higher than the 3.7 million tonnes in 2018 (driven primarily by the sharp decrease in exports of petroleum products).
• Renewables’ share of electricity generation was 35.5%, up 3.5% on 2018 Q2 – the third-highest percentage share on record.

Where can I find more UK energy statistics?

More detailed annual data on energy production and consumption (2014 to 2018) are available in the Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics 2019. The full release is available here.