xpost: U.S. power use tumbling with recession

[phantom power]

NEW YORK/HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. electricity demand will continue to shrink in 2009 as the economic meltdown hits industrial power consumption, but a rebound could come in 2010.

Bigger houses, a myriad of electric devices and an expanding economy have kept U.S. power use on a nearly uninterrupted climb for 25 years - until the recession put the brakes on industrial demand in 2008.

Electricity sales to industrial customers are expected to shrink 6.4 percent this year, leading to an expected 1.7 percent drop in overall power consumption in 2009, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its most recent outlook.

EIA, which provides data and analysis for the U.S. Department of Energy, said in another report industrial consumers bought 11.4 percent less power in January 2009 compared with the same time last year.

"Industrial demand will cycle deeper than residential (use) because industrial demand is even more sensitive to the business cycle," said Lawrence Makovich, vice president of the global power group at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52T4SW20090330?sp=true

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