An analysis of summertime months, June, July, August (JJA) and May, June, July, August, September (MJJAS), electric power demand and consumption was undertaken to show differing energy demand trends in coastal and inland California. The work follows previous findings by Lebassi et al. (2009) in which the authors, through analysis of summer surface JJA mean monthly maximum air temperature trends between 1950-2005 for two California air basins detected cooling trends at low elevation coastal areas open to marine air penetration and warming trends at inland and high elevation coastal areas.

Data was obtained from the California Energy Commission (CEC), Energy Information Administration (EIA) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Linear regressions show select coastal sites have increased peak hourly energy demand per year and decreased peak hourly energy demand per capita from 1993 to 2004. Select inland areas have increased peak hourly energy demand per year and increased peak hourly energy demand per capita from 1993 to 2004. Plots for coastal and inland county California electric power consumption per capita were created with 2005 to 2007 average total monthly consumption as well as 1990 to 2009 yearly residential consumption. Results show monthly and yearly consumption per capita for coastal counties are lower than inland counties. In addition, coastal county and inland county monthly consumption per capita differences increase during MJJAS, with a peak in August. This work shows that summer peak energy demands are sensitive to changes in temperature trends.