Electricity sales in 2015 totaled about 3.72 billion kWh, down 1.1% from 2014, driven by a decline in sales in the Midwest, the US Energy Information Administration said Monday. The year-on-year dip is the fifth time sales have fallen in eight years. In its report, EIA attributed much of the fall to industrial-sector declines “and little or no growth in sales to the residential and commercial-building sectors,” despite a rise in the number of residential households and overall commercial building space. Declining power-growth rates reflect a number of factors, EIA said, including market saturation and increasing efficiency of electricity-using equipment, a slowing rate of economic growth and the changing composition of the economy, with a reduction in electricity-intensive manufacturing. In many states, regulators have pushed utilities to offer more energy efficiency programs to customers, resulting in lower power demand, EIA said. Article continues below… Megawatt Daily provides detailed coverage […]