Price of electric power

Electricity is widely used across all sectors of the economy, with industrial consumption the highest. Typically, electricity usage is driven by the level of industrial production, the population and overall economic activity. Businesses and manufacturing facilities require more electricity when consumers are buying more products. As such, electricity price growth increased throughout the period as commercial and industrial electricity prices rose. The post recessionary period increased business and manufacturing activity, which led to higher electricity demand from businesses and manufacturers. As a result, electricity regulators set higher prices and since then, prices steadily increased as economic growth picked up and consumption stabilized. An increase in prices was also experienced in 2020, from the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic caused a demand shock for electricity since many businesses were forced to shut down for a period of time. As a result, operators were forced to increase their prices an estimated 8.7% in 2020, to help balance out the demand shock caused by the pandemic. Since the peak of the pandemic prices have begun to slightly stabilize. However, the war in Ukraine has created more uncertainty and this will likely cause the price of electric power to continue rising while the war is still going on. More recently, trade disputes with the US have induced volatility into the electricity prices.