The breakdown of consumption by sector was comparable to 2017. It should be noted that the slight decrease in consumption in heavy industryFinal customers getting electricity directly from the transmission system operator followed significant social movements in the rail transport sector and an incident at the site of an industrial customer in the metallurgy sector.

The residential segment was once again the largest consumer of electricity, accounting for about 35.7% of final consumption, followed by the business sector (26.6%), heavy industryFinal customers getting electricity directly from the transmission system operator (16.9%), SMEs/SMIFinal customers to which distribution system operators provide medium- and low-voltage power, with contracted power of 36 kVA or more (11%) and professionals (9.9%).

Electricity consumption, including the losses of distribution networks and adjusted for seasonal factors, was stable among SMEs/SMI, professionals, businesses and residential users connected to the distribution grids.

The application of directives and regulations on the energy efficiency of equipment contributed to this trend. Another factor was slower growth in the share of new buildings heated with electricity, due to the application of the 2012 Building Energy Regulation.

Electricity consumption by industrial users* directly connected to the public transmission network reached 66.2 TWh, which was 1.8% lower than in 2017. This year-on-year decrease was driven primarily by significant social movements in the rail transport sector in the spring and an incident at the site of an industrial customer in the metallurgy sector.

* including own consumption but excluding losses and the energy sector