Daylight saving time is supposed to save energy but its efficiency has also been challenged. However, Turkey’s Minister of Energy goes against research findings and claims that removing DST actually saved electricity. Data on national electricity consumption suggest otherwise, though.
During a speech at the Turkey Energy Summit on November 21, Fatih Dönmez, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural resources, said that, so far, its country has saved 6.82 billion KWh of electricity since they stopped applying daylight saving time.
Summertime arrangements, when clocks are advanced by one hour for half of the year, are observed in about 60 countries worldwide. But over the past 30 years, countries like Iceland, China, Russia, Belarus, and most recently Turkey, abolished daylight saving time (DST).
On September 2016, Turkey decided to stay in the same time zone as Moscow or Saudi Arabia and be three hours ahead of the Coordinated Universal Time. Then, from 2017 on, they stopped moving their clock forward by one hour during summer.
In 2017, the government wanted to revert the permanent time at UTC+2, the “summer time,” but the decision was reversed.
Unlike what research says, Turkey would have saved electricity by removing DST
Daylight saving time is set to save energy. But an explanatory memorandum from the European Commission in 2018 explains that “research indicates that the overall energy savings effect of summer-time is marginal.”
In 2016, a study estimated that Italy saved 0.2% of its annual electricity consumption, or about 580 GWh and 94,5 million euros, a year.
In France, DST was estimated to save 0.1% of electricity consumption in 2010, and 5% in Spain in 2015, and studying electricity saving became irrelevant in Germany.
But unlike most research results, Turkey claims that daylight saving time would actually use more energy.
By keeping their clocks at UTC+3, Turkey’s “winter time” has saved 6,082GWh and 6 billion liras (US $500 million), according to the minister who answered to the mayor of Istanbul, critical of the fixed winter hour, causing “citizens to start the day in the dark.”
While Turkey claims to have saved electricity by removing DST, total electric consumption data as explained below show it has not led to any savings.
How much electricity has Turkey saved?
Based on the minister’s data, Turkey has been saving no more than 0.6% of the country’s consumption of electricity.
More precisely, compared to the total electricity consumption reported by the International Energy Agency, the 6.82TWh from the minister would account for a 0.63% reduction in electricity consumption between 2017 and 2020.
But IEA data also provide another view of the situation. Analysis of the electricity consumption in the country suggests Turkey did not have save electricity since 2016.
Total electricity consumption has increased in Turkey since 2016
On the contrary, electricity consumption increased by 12% in 2020 compared to 2016 (273.6 TWh vs 243.7TWh).
Electricity consumption even grew every year, except for 2019 which remained flat compared to 2018.
The ministry of Energy had forecast a gross electricity consumption increase of 4.3% annually until 2023 (including all electricity produced, even what is lost and doesn’t make it to the end-user).
But in 2019 and 2020, electricity consumption grew less than the +4.3% expected, which could be thought of as a saving. Even if it’s not really the case.
Electricity consumption per capita has grown since 2016
The population who lives in Turkey has also significantly increased in the past few years. In 2016, 79.8 million people lived in Turkey, a figure constantly increasing to reach 84.3 million people in 2020.
More people living in Turkey could explain why electricity consumption increased, and figures could actually be lower if the population had remained constantly the same.
The population grew by 6% in 4 years, which is a significant increase. But it is still smaller than the increase in electricity consumption.
As a matter of fact, electricity consumption per capita also increased since Turkey’s clocks were permanently set at UTC+3.
In 2016, Turkey’s electricity consumption was equivalent to 3.1MWh per person. It was the country’s highest ratio during the 21st century at the time.
But electricity consumption per capita kept increasing after 2016 and was at least 3.3MWh per person.
Years after removing daylight saving time were at least approximately 6% to 10% more energy-consuming than the years before the change.
Electricity isn’t only consumed by the population. It is also used for a country’s economic activity, which could be a reason for higher consumption.
Electricity consumption compared to growth increased since 2016
Between 2016 and 2020, Turkey’s gross domestic product grew by 13.6% in constant local currency. Using a constant currency value allows the comparison of the efficiency in electricity consumption with Turkey’s GDP over the years.
In 2016, 153.56KWh of electricity was consumed to make 1 Turkish lira.
And it turns out that electricity consumption for the period 2013–2016 was 1.25% more efficient for Turkey’s economy than during 2017–2020.
The average electricity efficiency was 151.60KWh for every lira created in Turkey’s economy in 2013–2016 when 153.50KWh were consumed to generate 1 lira in 2017–2020.
The productivity of electricity in the economy seems to have been improving since 2018. But 2020, a particular year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, skews such a conclusion.
Electricity consumption in Turkey has been more intense for the economy after 2016.
It, therefore, goes against the idea that Turkey saved electricity since removing daylight saving time again.
Inflation is another factor that can skew the analysis of electricity productivity in Turkey’s GDP.
With inflation, use of electricity artificially appears more efficient
Over the past 50 years, the inflation rate in Turkey has been pretty high, especially in the 90s when consumer prices could even double in a year.
But inflation was more stable in Turkey since the early 2000s, with a rate at approximately 8% per year.
However, the inflation rate has been increasing again recently, with rates above 10% every year since 2017. The Turkish lira even reached record lows in November 2021.
And so, by taking the GDP data with the current currency value, electricity consumption appears to be more efficient since daylight saving time was removed.
For the period 2017–2020, 66.43KWh were consumed on average for every 1 lira created in the Turkish economy, whereas an average of 101,85KWh was consumed in 2013–2016.
Since DST was removed, electricity productivity artificially appears 35% more efficient because of inflation.
Summary of findings
For Turkey’s minister of Energy, sticking to winter hours after 2016 has saved 6.82TWh so far, which accounts for a 0.62% reduction over the period 2017–2020.
Since 2017, electricity consumption increased less than the +4.3% forecast from the government.
But between 2016 and 2020, electricity consumption actually grew by 12% in the country.
Electricity consumption per capita increased by approximately 6% after 2016.
The electricity consumed compared to Turkey’s economy was 1.6% less efficient without daylight saving time.
By taking the country’s vivid inflation into consideration, electricity would artificially show a 35% productivity saving in electricity.
Conclusion
In the end, research recently showed that summertime saved energy. But the impact was relatively small.
Turkish authorities reported the opposite situation. However, electricity consumption data in Turkey suggest they have not been saving electricity since they stopped daylight saving time.
And if any, Turkey’s declared savings are also relatively marginal.
Other factors than energy are also taken into consideration before changing summertime arrangements. Public health, for one.
NB: The analyses on this page don’t consider potential consumption peaks during days or seasons as the goal is to know whether DST actually saved power overall. But it may affect the money spent or saved for the electricity consumed, especially for end-users. The latter was not covered here.
