The non-linear link between electricity consumption and temperature in Europe: A threshold panel approach

This paper investigates the relationship between electricity demand and temperature in the European Union. We address this issue by means of a panel threshold regression model on 15 European countries over the last two decades. Our results confirm the nonlinearity of the link between electricity consumption and temperature found in more limited geographical areas in previous studies. By distinguishing between North and South countries, we also find that this non-linear pattern is more pronounced in the warm countries. Finally, rolling regressions show that the sensitivity of electricity consumption to temperature in summer has increased in the recent period. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.