Electricity demand is expanding unevenly across regions and end uses. The figures below distinguish observed consumption, customer sales, estimates, forecasts, capacity and reliability measures, with geography and measurement periods stated explicitly.
Key Electricity Demand Statistics
These are the most broadly useful figures in the available electricity-demand data:
- In 2024, global electricity demand increased 4.3% worldwide.
- In 2024, global electricity consumption increased by 1,080 TWh worldwide.
- In 2024, China’s electricity consumption increased by more than 550 TWh, or 7%.
- From 2025 through 2027, global electricity demand is forecast to grow close to 4% annually.
- Through 2027, emerging economies are expected to provide 85% of additional global electricity demand.
- In 2024, global building electricity consumption increased more than 600 TWh, or 5%.
- In 2024, buildings accounted for nearly 60% of global electricity-consumption growth.
- During 2022–2024, industry supplied almost 50% of global electricity-demand growth.
- In 2024, transport electricity consumption grew more than 8% worldwide.
- In 2024, global electric-car sales exceeded 17 million units.
- In 2022, data centers, AI and cryptocurrency consumed an estimated 460 TWh worldwide.
- In 2026, data-center, AI and cryptocurrency electricity consumption could exceed 1,000 TWh worldwide.
- In 2024, U.S. electricity sales to all ultimate customers totaled 3,975,382 million kWh.
- In 2024, U.S. all-sector electricity-sales revenue was $514,396 million.
- In 2024, the U.S. all-sector average electricity price was 12.94 cents/kWh.
- In 2021, demand-response resources represented 6.6% of U.S. ISO/RTO peak load.
- From 2023 to 2027, U.S. distributed energy resources and their demand flexibility are forecast to grow 262 GW.
Contents
- Key Electricity Demand Statistics
- Global Electricity Demand Statistics and Recent Growth
- Regional Electricity Demand Trends and Forecasts
- Electricity Demand by Buildings, Industry and Transport
- Data Centers, Electrification and Other Demand Drivers
- U.S. Electricity Demand, Sales and Customer Costs
- Peak Demand, Reliability and Demand Flexibility
Global Electricity Demand Statistics and Recent Growth
The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that global electricity demand grew 4.3% in 2024, after a 2.5% increase in 2023. Its reported historical average annual growth was 2.7% from 2010 through 2023.
The IEA measure is total final consumption, which excludes power-plant own use and transmission and distribution losses. It is therefore not interchangeable with generation or customer sales.
| Global measure | Period | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity demand growth | 2023 | 2.5% |
| Electricity demand growth | 2024 | 4.3% |
| Average annual growth | 2010–2023 | 2.7% per year |
| Consumption increase | 2024 | 1,080 TWh |
Source: Global Energy Review 2025: Electricity.
Regional and economic-group results varied in 2024:
- Advanced economies added 230 TWh of electricity consumption in 2024, compared with a 140 TWh decline in 2023.
- The European Union’s electricity consumption grew about 1.5% in 2024, a rounded estimate.
- Southeast Asia’s electricity consumption grew more than 7% in 2024, also a rounded regional estimate.
The IEA reported that China’s electricity consumption increased by more than 550 TWh, or 7%, in 2024. The figures are rounded in the source and use the same total-final-consumption framing.
Regional Electricity Demand Trends and Forecasts
The IEA forecasts global electricity demand growth close to 4% annually through 2027, equivalent to a forecast cumulative increase of 3,500 TWh over 2025–2027. Emerging economies are expected to provide 85% of additional demand during that period.
| Geography | Historical or observed measure | Forecast |
|---|---|---|
| China | 7% growth in 2024; more than half of global growth | 6% annually through 2027 |
| India | 7% growth in 2023; 5% annual average in 2015–2024 | 6.3% annually over 2025–2027 |
| Southeast Asia | More than 7% growth in 2024 | 5% annually through 2026 |
| World | 4.3% growth in 2024 | Close to 4% annually through 2027 |
Sources: Electricity 2025: Executive summary and Electricity 2024: Executive summary.
China supplied more than half of global electricity-demand growth in 2024, and its demand is forecast to grow 6% annually through 2027. India’s forecast annual growth is 6.3% over 2025–2027, compared with a reported 5% annual average from 2015 through 2024.
Southeast Asian electricity demand is forecast to grow 5% annually through 2026. Forecast values describe expected change, not completed consumption, and may change as economic, weather and policy conditions change.
Electricity Demand by Buildings, Industry and Transport
Buildings were the largest cited source of global electricity-consumption growth in 2024. Residential and commercial buildings together used more than 600 TWh more electricity than in the prior year, a 5% increase, and accounted for nearly 60% of global consumption growth.
Industry accounted for nearly 40% of global electricity-demand growth in 2024, while industrial electricity use grew nearly 4%. Transport electricity consumption grew more than 8% worldwide in the same year.
The multi-year picture differs slightly from the single-year picture. During 2022–2024, industry supplied almost 50% of global electricity-demand growth, while commercial and residential sectors together supplied another 40%.
- Manufacturing solar photovoltaic modules, batteries and electric vehicles supplied one-third of industrial demand growth during 2022–2024, according to an IEA attribution estimate.
- The solar-PV, battery and EV manufacturing industries consumed more than 300 TWh in 2024, according to an IEA estimate.
- Global electric-car sales exceeded 17 million units in 2024 and increased more than 25%, based on an IEA preliminary estimate.
The manufacturing estimate excludes upstream mining and processing. Sector shares are rounded and should not be treated as a complete accounting of every electricity-consuming activity.
Source: Global Energy Review 2025: Electricity and Electricity 2025: Executive summary.
Data Centers, Electrification and Other Demand Drivers
Digital infrastructure is becoming a larger electricity-demand topic, although estimates combine several loads. The IEA estimated that data centers, artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency consumed 460 TWh worldwide in 2022, and forecast that their combined consumption could exceed 1,000 TWh in 2026.
China’s data centers consumed more than 100 TWh in 2024, an IEA estimate. They contributed around 3% of China’s additional electricity demand during 2022–2024 and could account for 6% of demand growth over 2025–2027 under cited Chinese institutional scenarios.
These projections have wide uncertainty, and the digital-load figures combine data centers, AI and cryptocurrency in the cited global measure. They should not be read as a single observed data-center total for every geography.
Electricity’s role in final energy also differs among major economies. The IEA comparison put electricity at 28% of China’s final energy consumption, 22% in the United States and 21% in the European Union; the comparison uses the IEA final-energy definition.
About 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa still lack reliable electricity access, according to an IEA report estimate. This is an access and reliability population measure, not a direct measure of electricity demand.
Source: Electricity 2025: Executive summary and Electricity 2024: Executive summary.
U.S. Electricity Demand, Sales and Customer Costs
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2024 figures describe electricity sales to ultimate customers. They are customer-sales measures, not exactly the same as net generation, and billing periods can differ from calendar months.
| U.S. customer class | 2024 electricity sales | Average price |
|---|---|---|
| Residential | 1,482,874 million kWh | 16.48 cents/kWh |
| Commercial | 1,450,941 million kWh | 12.75 cents/kWh |
| Industrial | 1,034,584 million kWh | 8.13 cents/kWh |
| Transportation | 6,983 million kWh | Not listed here |
| All ultimate customers | 3,975,382 million kWh | 12.94 cents/kWh |
Source: Electric Power Annual: Table 1.1 Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics, 2024 and 2023.
U.S. all-sector electricity sales increased 2.6% from 2023 to 2024. EIA reported $514,396 million in all-sector electricity-sales revenue for 2024, with the average price to ultimate customers at 12.94 cents/kWh.
Residential customers paid an average 16.48 cents/kWh in 2024, compared with 12.75 cents/kWh for commercial customers and 8.13 cents/kWh for industrial customers. These are average customer prices, not a universal tariff or a household-specific bill.
Peak Demand, Reliability and Demand Flexibility
Electricity demand statistics also include the resources used to manage peaks and maintain reliability, but capacity, participation and delivered energy are different measures. The U.S. had nearly 1,300 GW of generating capacity as of February 2023; that capacity figure is not electricity demand or generation.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2024 Smart Grid System Report cited a Wood Mackenzie outlook forecasting 262 GW of growth in distributed energy resources and their demand flexibility from 2023 to 2027. The same briefing cited 271 GW of expected U.S. bulk-generation additions over that period.
| Flexibility or reliability measure | Period | Reported value |
|---|---|---|
| Demand-response participation in ISO/RTO markets | 2021 | 32,421 MW |
| Demand-response share of ISO/RTO peak load | 2021 | 6.6% |
| Cited annual participation trend | 2024 briefing | About 6% per year |
| Southern California virtual power plant potential | 2024 briefing | 50 MW and 340 MWh |
Demand-response participation is FERC-reported resource participation, not delivered energy. The Southern California virtual power plant figures describe potential capability based on a market signal, not measured dispatch output.
Source: 2024 Smart Grid System Report.
NERC identified five U.S. regions with elevated outage risk under above-normal conditions for summer 2024. The assessment covered the conterminous United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, and the risk was scenario-dependent.
June–August 2024 U.S. temperatures were 2.5°F above average, based on the NOAA climate comparison cited by DOE/NREL. The reliability report distinguishes bulk-system outages from localized distribution outages, so the regional risk count is not a count of all customer outages.
Source: How the U.S. Power Grid Kept the Lights on in Summer 2024.