Brazil's electricity consumption falls 2.1 pct in 2015
The industrial sector led the way to smaller power demand with a reduction of 5.3 percent last year compared with 2014. Only one among 13 industrial sectors saw an increase on demand, mineral extraction.
Metallurgy cut electricity demand the most, by 12.5 percent, reflecting downturns in auto production and construction.
According to the EPE report, Brazilian households reduced power use in 2015 by the first time since 2002, when Brazil was in the middle of a electricity rationing.
Brazilian houses used 0,6 percent less energy than in 2014, even as 1.6 million new residences were connected to the grid for the first time.
EPE said the fall reflected the higher prices for electricity - up to 60 percent higher in some states - after two years of drought forced the use of more expensive, thermal generation.
Related News
Overturning statewide vote, Maine court energizes Hydro-Quebec's bid to export power
BANGOR - Maine's highest court on Tuesday breathed new life into a $1-billion US transmission line that aims to serve as conduit for Canadian hydropower, ruling that a statewide vote rebuking the project was unconstitutional.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the retroactive nature of the referendum last year violated the project developer's constitutional rights, sending it back to a lower court for further proceedings.
The court did not rule in a separate case that focuses on a lease for a 1.6-kilometre portion of the proposed power line that crosses state land.
Central Maine Power's parent company and Hydro-Québec teamed up on the…
