Medellin-based national electric-power grid operator and power-trading center XM announced April 17 that power demand in Colombia is up 3% year-on-year through first-quarter (1Q) 2018, compared to a 1.8% net year-on-year decline in 1Q 2017.

Over the last 12 months through March 2018, Colombian power demand is up 2.5%, whereas power demand actually fell 1.5% over the comparable 2016-2017 period, XM found.

Meanwhile, power demand in Antioquia rose 3.7% year-on-year for the month of March 2018, versus a 3.2% net decline year-on-year in March 2017.

The power-demand figures indicate that Colombia generally and Antioquia specifically are starting to emerge from recessions that hit in 2016 and especially 2017, when a hike in value-added tax (VAT) slammed consumer spending and (consequently) industrial output.

For the month of March 2018, national power demand rose 4.4% year-on-year, compared to a 0.3% year-on-year contraction in March 2017, XM noted.

The relatively strong demand growth has exceeded prognostications by Colombia’s national energy-planning agency -- the “Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética" (UPME), XM noted.

Residential and small-business demand grew 4.4% in March 2018 versus March 2017, while combined industrial-commercial demand in March 2018 grew an even stronger 4.6% year-on-year, the agency noted. However, manufacturing demand in March grew by just 0.8% year-on-year, according to XM.

The greatest year-on-year demand growth in March 2018 was in Guaviare department (up 9.4% year-on-year), while the Tolima-Huila-Caqueta region saw demand jump 8.1%, and the Atlantic Coast region saw demand grow 6.8%, XM found.