October load 3.6% higher and the North at 9.3%

The weekly bulletin of the Monthly Operation Programme brings the first load projections for October. According to the ONS, the National Interconnected System should accelerate 3.6% against October 2025, with increases of 9.3% in the North, 9.2% in the Northeast, 1.9% in the Southeast/Centre-West and 0.1% in the South.

The contrast with the previous quarter is large. EPE, in Quarterly Electricity Consumption Bulletin No. 26, of 18 September 2026, records growth of 2.6% in national consumption in the second quarter, with residential at 5.8%, commercial at 4.9% and industrial practically flat, at 0.2%.

The ONS projection is monthly and compared with a specific base, which amplifies temperature and calendar effects. What remains is the direction: load is growing where the largest concentrations of renewable generation and the outflow constraints are located.

Load rising in the North and Northeast brings consumption closer to generation and eases the need to transport energy to the Southeast. For those assessing projects in these regions, this is the variable to follow in the next PMO revisions.