SLOVAKIA observes daylight saving time (DST), or summer time, based on the argument that changing the clocks leads to savings in electricity. This year the switch took place during the last weekend in March. The Institute for Financial Policy (IFP) has calculated that the switch to DST can save to Slovaks between €20 and €30 million.
“Switching to summer time significantly reduces consumption of electricity during evening hours,” IFP writes in its analysis. “This indicates that households benefit from the introduction of summer time more than companies.”
According to the institute, even though studies scrutinising usage of the two times are coming to ambiguous conclusions, Slovakia’s experience is that the switch to summer time reduces the daily consumption of electricity by about 0.7-1.2 percent, saving between 115-200 GWh of electricity or €20 to €30 million.
