HOUSEHOLDS across Cheshire are now using less electricity than they were five years ago.

New figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy show that Cheshire West families consumed 3,737 kilowatt hours (kWh) on average in 2019 – the equivalent of running around nine fridge-freezers each over the year.

That was 7.2 per cent down from 4,028 kWh in 2015 – the same as the north west’s average drop over the period.

Cheshire East households are also using less electricity, at 4,022 kWh in 2019 compared to 4,249 kWh in 2015, but this was a smaller drop below the north west average.

Despite there being 17,000 more electricity meters across the two boroughs in that time, the total amount of electricity sold fell by around three per cent.

Sam Chetan-Welsh, from Greenpeace UK, said: “The more efficient we get with our energy use, the better chance we stand of cleaning up the supply and saving ourselves from catastrophe."

There is further scope for society to reduce its electricity consumption and boost employment by insulating homes, he added, and continue to improve electrical goods’ efficiency through better product design.

The data is based on the aggregation of meter readings and does not include electricity consumed directly from on-site generation, such as that generated by solar panels.