Nonresidential energy use in Houston down further

Rough indicator of production

Wendy Natt, May 27, 09.

CenterPoint Energy reported a 12.9 percent drop in electricity sales for nonresidential consumption from April 2008 to April 2009, says a Greater Houston Partnership Economic Indicators email update. March 2009 sales were 8.9 percent lower than March 2008. According to GHP, nonresidential electricity usage is a rough proxy for industrial production, but it can be affected by variation in the unknown amounts of electricity some large industrial users generate for themselves.

A more accurate measure of usage is the running 12-month total, says GHP, according to which energy sales are down 6.2 percent from their latest peak in August 2008.

See the full list of GHP’s Houston Economic Indicators for May 27, 2009.