We study the relationship between average temperatures and electricity consumption in Portugal. Control variables include electricity prices and the economic activity. Our results indicate that there is U-shaped relationship between temperature and electricity consumption. While changes in average temperature do not affect electricity consumption by a large extent, extreme temperatures have stronger impacts. Given the mild weather in Portugal, electricity demand has not changed significantly over the last decades. Larger impacts can only be expected if extreme weather events become more frequent. Our results show the importance of considering country specificities in the analysis and of comparing several model specifications.

我们研究了葡萄牙平均气温与电力消耗之间的关系。控制变量包括电价和经济活动。我们的结果表明温度和电耗之间存在U型关系。虽然平均温度的变化不会在很大程度上影响用电量，但极端温度的影响更大。鉴于葡萄牙气候温和，过去几十年来电力需求并未发生明显变化。只有在极端天气事件变得更加频繁的情况下，才有望产生更大的影响。我们的结果表明，在分析中考虑国家的特殊性以及比较几种模型规范的重要性。