Brazilian power consumption climbed 3.6% last year as surging commercial
and residential demand was offset by slower industrial demand, the government
energy research corporation, EPE, said Friday.
Brazilian electricity use totaled 430,100 gigawatt-hours, the EPE said on its
website. In 2010, power use jumped 7.8% as industrial demand rebounded from a
slump caused by the global financial crisis. Electricity use contracted 1% in
2009.
Industrial power use climbed 2.3% in 2011, the EPE said Friday. Commercial use
climbed 6.3%, while residential use expanded 4.6%.
Brazil
's
northeast, one of the poorest and fastest-growing regions in the country, saw
its demand climb just 0.3% during the year. That was due in part to a decline
in industrial demand after an aluminum plant was taken offline and as a result
of blackouts in early 2011 that had a long-lasting impact on the region's
industry, the EPE said.
In the
other regions, electricity demand climbed at least 4%.