Overall electricity consumption (grid load) in Germany generally follows a consistent pattern throughout the course of a week. That makes sense given that more electricity is normally consumed on weekdays, when people go to work and factories, businesses and offices are open. By contrast, electricity consumption decreases on the weekend.

How does a national holiday affect electricity consumption?

These examples from 2023, 2020 and 2018 not only show the typical curve for a week, but the Day of German Unity on 3 October is also usually clearly recognisable. Electricity consumption is significantly lower than on the same days in other weeks and there is a downward bend in the curve.

Last year 3 October was a Tuesday. It is fairly safe to conclude from the unusually low consumption on Monday, 2 October 2023 that many employees took Monday off to extend their weekend.

By contrast, the Day of German Unity in 2020 fell on a Saturday. This example thus shows a much less noticeable dip in the electricity consumption curve since electricity consumption is lower on Saturdays than on weekdays anyway.

In 2018 the Day of German Unity was on a Wednesday. Electricity consumption on Thursday and Friday of that week was also lower than on the Thursdays and Fridays in the weeks before and after, but the difference is much smaller than in the 2023 example.

The electricity consumption curves show what is also visible in the average consumption levels for each day of the week: consumption levels on weekdays are similar while consumption decreases on weekends. The average electricity consumption on the Day of German Unity falls between the average consumption values for Saturdays and Sundays.