Statistics: Experts expect energy consumption to fall

Berlin. According to an projection, total energy consumption in Germany will fall significantly in 2026. A decline of almost three percent compared to the previous year is to be expected, reported the Working Group on Energy Balances (AGEB) in Berlin. The experts see the subdued economic development and the sharp rise in energy prices as the main reasons. However, the weather and other influencing factors only had a weak effect on energy consumption.

The annual forecast is based on data for the first nine months of the current year. During this period, energy consumption fell by 3.6 percent compared to the same period last year, according to AGEB. “The development of consumption was characterized by a decline in mineral oil sales and a further decline in the contribution of lignite,” it said. However, there was an increase in consumption of natural gas, renewable energies and hard coal.

Mineral oil consumption fell by more than 12 percent overall from January to September. The declines varied depending on the energy source. The decline for petrol was 4 percent and for diesel it was over 9 percent. Sales of aviation fuel fell by 3 percent and deliveries of raw gasoline to the chemical industry fell by around 5 percent. For light heating oil, the decline was over 38 percent. The reason: Consumers had reduced their inventories due to high prices and only bought small quantities, according to the AGEB.

Natural gas consumption increased slightly (0.8 percent) and hard coal consumption increased by over 8 percent. The use in power plants to generate electricity recorded an increase of 7.2 percent. The iron and steel industry also consumed slightly more coal than in the comparable period. Renewable energies increased by 5.7 percent.

The AGEB found that in the first nine months more electricity flowed abroad than was purchased from there. The balance was 1.9 terawatt hours. In the comparable period of the two previous years, electricity exchange still had significant import surpluses.

Renewable energies accounted for a total share of 22.5 percent of total energy consumption in the first nine months of 2026. Last year it was 20.5 percent. The fossil fuels oil, natural gas and coal continued to provide the majority of the energy consumed in Germany, at a combined 75.5 percent. The remaining shares include, among other things, amounts of electricity generated by waste incineration.