According to Amac News: This 1% increase in natural gas consumption was due to a 6.7% increase in the electricity generation sector, which is the largest consumer of natural gas in the United States.
Natural gas consumption for electricity generation averaged 35.4 billion cubic feet per day, accounting for 40% of total US natural gas consumption in 2023.
In contrast, residential natural gas consumption fell to a five-year low, averaging 12.4 bcf/d, down 8.9% (1.2 Bcf/d) from 2022 and the largest annual decline in five years. Also recently, natural gas consumption in the commercial sector decreased by 4.8 percent (0.5 Bcf/d).
The summer of 2023 was the hottest summer on record in the Northern Hemisphere, which increased the use of natural gas in the power generation sector to meet the demand for air conditioning. Similarly, warmer-than-normal temperatures in January and February 2023 led to lower demand for space heating in the residential and commercial sectors than in the previous five years, and reduced overall natural gas consumption growth in 2023 relative to 2022.
Natural gas consumption trends seen in 2023 continued through September 2024. US natural gas consumption averaged 89.8 Bcf/d through September 2024, up 1% from the same period in 2023. The increase was driven by a 4% (1.6 Bcf/d) increase in electricity generation consumption, which will average 38.1 Bcf/d, or 42% of total US natural gas consumption in 2024 through September.