December Sets Month Record for Electricity Demand

December was an exceptionally cold month in Israel – and Israelis used an exceptionally large amount of electricity during the month. Electricity usage hit 12,045 megawatts in December, an all-time high for demand in December. The previous December record was set in 2013, when demand was 11,635 megawatts.

The all-time cold-weather record was set in January 2016, when demand was 12,624 megawatts. The most electricity used in a month was in the summer, in August 2015, when demand was 12,905 megawatts.

The Israel Electric Company said in a statement that it was prepared to deal with winter demand. With that, the company said that a situation of “zero problems” in electricity supply was impossible to guarantee, especially since the electrical system was exposed to the vagaries of the weather. “We have increased the number of workers in the field in order to deal with crises and extreme weather immediately, although much is dependent on the nature of the situation and the ability of staff to locate the source of a problem,” the company said.