Economic slowdown reflected on electricity and water consumption in 2020

The local economic slowdown in 2020 had an indirect impact on the electricity and water consumption in Macau, figures released by the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) show.
According to the DSEC, electricity consumption has registered a drop in general by 6.7% last year. Accounting for this decline are significant reductions in commercial and public sector spending which fell 11.4% and 9.6%, respectively, when compared with the previous year.
The drop in electricity consumption is particularly significant as 2020 recorded the first year-on-year decline in almost three decades, DSEC noted.
Such results have been linked to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the local economy, particularly visible in the tourism and gaming sectors.
As the Times previously reported, since the beginning of the pandemic, many of the local hotels and restaurants have drastically reduced their business performance with some of the food and beverage venues closed for over one year, particularly those located in the integrated resorts.
On the other hand, the electricity consumption by households rose by 9.6% last year, when compared year-on-year with 2019.
The figure has also been attributed to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic which have resulted in local residents spending more time at home in the last year.
Following a similar trend was also the water consumption, falling in general by 8% in 2020 when compared to 2019. This is the first annual decline of water consumption in over a decade, official statistics show.