Between 1997 and 2006, total energy consumption in the Southeast (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia) increased 13 percent, more than double the national rate of 5 percent over this time period. Growth in energy consumption is largely attributable to increases in population and economic activity, specifically growth in personal income or GDP per capita (populous, industrialized regions typically have greater energy demands). Regional growth in all of these variables was approximately equal to or exceeded the national rate during this time period.

One contributing driver of these trends is the relatively low cost of energy consumption. For example, average electricity rates are below the national average in all major energy-consuming sectors. This driver also has implications for per capita energy consumption and energy consumption per GDP (energy intensity), indicators that demonstrated similar, but slower rates of decline than the national average from 1997-2006.