- Customers reduces temperature from 21 Celsius to 19 Celsius.
- The current high prices resulted in a reduction in gas use.
The government of the Netherlands launched a campaign to boost energy saving in April to ensure that the Netherlands would become less reliant on Russian gas. As a result, in most government offices, The temperature has also been turned down from 21 Celsius to 19 Celsius. Also, Private customers will have to turn down their heating and reduce showers. The national statistics agency CBS estimated that due to the mild winter, gas consumption had fallen 16% in the first half of the year. Also, according to energy company Eneco, Gas consumption has been down between 20% and 25% since September 1.
Reports from Eneco show that only 230,000 of about 2 million customers have smart meters showing that the central heating has been reduced by one or two degrees in many homes. Big energy firms like Vattenfall, Essent and Budget Energie did not have data available. Eneco, in a statement, said that they could not predict the heating response as the winter approaches and it gets colder.
Thijs Bouman, a Groningen University researcher, said that financial incentives could change the dynamics of gas utilization. However, experts say the reduction in gas use is not surprising. According to experts, the current high prices resulted in a decrease in gas use, and the dynamics could change with a price change.