June 21 (Reuters) - Electricity demand in New England surged this week as high temperatures persisted through much of the United States, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Friday.

Demand in New England's Independent System Operator (ISO-NE) electric grid area reached its highest point on June 20, hitting 23,324 megawatts (MW) in the evening, nearly matching last year's peak hourly demand, the agency said.

This peak was 521 MW higher than the previous day's peak of 22,803 MW. ISO-NE anticipates reduced demand over the upcoming weekend and early next week as temperatures decrease, EIA added.

To meet demand, utilities in New England increased their use of natural gas, according to the EIA report.

Natural gas consumption in the power sector within ISO-NE amounted to close to 2.0 billion cubic feet (Bcf) on both June 19 and 20, as reported by S&P Global Commodity Insights, the report stated.

Other regions are also experiencing increased electricity demand, EIA said.

Electricity demand in the PJM Interconnection, which covers a large region from New Jersey to Illinois, peaked at 145,892 MW on June 20, about the same amount as demand on June 19, it added.

(Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru)