Impact of COVID-19 on Electric Energy Consumption

Abstract

COVID-19 has been a source of great disruption to governments and people ali over the world. Health care systems have been overwhelmed, already destabilized financial markets further jeopardized, with oil and energy markets plunging into crises and economic activities coming to severe halts. To keep people connected while working from home and upholding life-saving facilities in hospitals and around industrial regimes, reliable affordable electricity is imminent. As an immediate consequence of the pandemic, much pressure has befallen countries with low-energy reserves, where the energy sectors involved had already been staggering and facing major challenges ahead of COVID-19. Jordan’s, being of these impacted countries, peak demand on electricity decreased by 17.5% by early April 2020 compared with the mean 2019 levels. Based on the ARMA and ARIMA models obtained, the impact on 2020 electricity demand in Jordan depends on the durations and levels of the confinement/s, with a low estimate of 2.76% if pre pandemic conditions return by mid-September (2020), and a high estimate of 7% if some restrictions remain in effect worldwide until the end of 2020. This article reports the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the energy sector in Jordan, with Jordan being a typical example of many such countries worldwide. This will help leverage contingencies and good planning that would help the energy sectors worldwide remain within some sustainable regime/s.