Is temperature change a key driver of the regional differences in electricity consumption of the economic sectors in Spain (2000–2016)?

Climate change has caused significant changes in temperature with different consequences depending on the geographical location of the regions, affecting among other aspects, electricity consumption (EC). Spain being a country that encompasses so many different temperature zones, this work analyses EC per capita among the Autonomous Communities (AC) of Spain through a spatial-temporal decomposition analysis during the 2000–2016 period. The regional differences are explained by four decomposition factors: intensity, temperature, structural and per capita income. The temporal decomposition results show that temperature changes in Spain between 2000 and 2016 have substantially affected the per capita EC. Likewise, it has been noted that in the 2000–2008 period, the temperature effect mainly acted as an inhibitor compared to the 2008–2016 period, in which an increase in the days of extreme temperature acted as a driver. The spatial decomposition reveals that the structural and energy intensity effects contribute to the AC moving away from average figures, while the temperature and income effects contributes to reducing the differences depending on the location of the AC. The results enable to determine the importance of establishing public policy measures aimed at improving energy efficiency.