After seven months of summer time, from tonight – between Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 October – solar time has returned: at 3.00 we moved the clocks back an hour. Daylight saving time will be back in effect from March 25, 2018.
According to what was found by Terna, the company that manages the national electricity grid, since 26 March 2017, thanks to that extra hour of light per day which has led to the postponement of the use of artificial light, Italy has saved a total of 567 million kilowatt hours (as much as the average annual electricity consumption of over 200 families), a value corresponding to lower CO2 emissions into the atmosphere by 320 tonnes.
Considering that in the reference period a kilowatt hour cost the average domestic customer about 19,5 euro cents before taxes, the economic savings for the system relating to the lower electricity consumption in the summer time period for 2017 is equal to 110 million euros.
As usual, the greatest savings in electricity were recorded in the months of April and October. This is due to the fact that these two months have "shorter" days in terms of natural light than the months of the entire period. Moving the hands one hour forward therefore delays the use of artificial light at a time when work activities are still in full swing. In the summer months such as July and August, on the other hand, since the days are already longer than in April, the "delay" effect in turning on the light bulbs occurs in the evening hours, when work activities are mostly finished, and makes record less evident results in terms of electricity savings.
From 2004 to 2017, according to data processed by Terna, the lower electricity consumption for the country due to summer time was approximately 8 billion and 540 million kilowatt hours (quantity equivalent to the annual electricity demand of a region such as Sardinia) and in economic terms has resulted in savings for citizens of approximately 1 billion and 435 million euros.
From the home page of the Terna website, www.terna.it, the "load curve" is visible, which represents the trend of electricity consumption in Italy in real time.
