Energy Trends and Prices Statistical Release: 30 April 2015

The latest provisional monthly energy statistics produced by the Department of Energy and Climate Change were released on 30 April 2015 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Highlights for the 3 month period December 2014 to February 2015, compared to the same period a year earlier include:

•     Primary energy consumption in the UK on a fuel input basis rose by 1.7%, on a temperature adjusted basis it fell by 0.7%. (table ET 1.2)
•     Indigenous energy production fell by 2.7% driven by falls in UKCS output. (table ET 1.1),
•     Nuclear production up 5.1% due to stations returning to operation after outages. (table ET 5.4)
•     Lower coal generation due to the closure of plants, however coal share remains above gas. (table ET 5.4)
•     Coal provided 34.7% of electricity generation by Major Power Producers, with gas at 25.1% and nuclear at 20.9%.* (table ET 5.4)
•     Wind generation by Major Power Producers up 1.2%, whilst overall renewables up 13.4% with growth in biomass.* (table ET 5.4)
•     Low carbon share of electricity generation by Major Power Producers up 3.3 percentage points to 40.2%, due to rises in nuclear and renewables generation. (table ET 5.4)

Statistics on monthly production and consumption of coal, electricity, gas, oil and total energy include data for the UK for the period up to the end of February 2015.

Statistics on average temperatures, wind speeds, sun hours and rainfall include data for the UK for the period up to the end of March 2015.

Statistics on energy prices include retail price data for the UK for March 2015, and petrol & diesel data for April 2015, with EU comparative data for March 2015.

The latest release updates the statistics previously released on 26 March 2015.

The next release of provisional monthly energy statistics will take place on 28 May 2015.