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EIA: US retail power sales to drop this year before recovering ground

The federal government projects retail electricity sales in the United States will decline in 2017 before rebounding in 2018 to average about 10.3 million MWh per day.

In its latest "Short-Term Energy Outlook" released Dec. 12, the U.S. Energy Information Administration expects that 2017 total retail sales will average about 10.1 million MWh/d, of which about 37% will go to residential customers, 36.5% will go to commercial customers and 26% will go to industrial customers.

In 2018, the EIA projects sales to residential, commercial and industrial customers will account for about 38%, 36% and 26% of U.S. retail sales respectively.

Turning to the country's electric supply, the agency projects power generation will average 11.0 million MWh/d in 2017 before increasing in 2018 to 11.2 million MWh/d.

According to the report, coal will provide about 30% of the country's electricity in 2017, flat to its 2016 level, while natural gas will account for almost 32%, down from 34% on the year, and nuclear generation will represent about 20% this year and in 2018

In 2018, the EIA projects coal will account for about 31% of the country's power, while natural gas will represent around 32%. Generation from renewable energy sources other than hydropower grows from about 8% in 2016 to a forecast share of nearly 10% in 2018.

U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions are expected to decrease by 0.8% this year before recovering by 1.8% in 2018, depending upon the impact of the weather, the economy and energy prices. U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions were down by 1.7% in 2016.