Electricity and gas prices across Europe: How does your country compare?
Energy prices in the EU, which surged following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, stabilised after a year. Throughout 2024, the annual inflation rate for energy prices was slightly negative in most months.
Energy bills play a crucial role in household budgets, with electricity, gas, and other fuels accounting for 5.5% of total household spending in the EU in 2023. This is especially significant for low-income households, as they have to allocate a larger share of their budget to energy costs.
Energy prices vary significantly across Europe, but which countries have the most expensive and cheapest electricity and gas prices?
A wide differential
The Household Energy Price Index (HEPI), compiled by Energie-Control Austria, MEKH and VaasaETT, provides the most up-to-date data on residential electricity and gas prices across capital cities in 33 European countries.
As of 3 January 2025, residential end-user electricity prices varied widely across Europe, ranging from 9.1 c€/kWh in Budapest to 40.4 c€/kWh in Berlin, while the EU average stood at 25.5 c€/kWh.
In addition to Berlin, the most expensive cities for household electricity were Brussels (38.5 c€/kWh), Copenhagen (37.5 c€/kWh), London (36.8 c€/kWh), and Bern (36.4 c€/kWh).
Budapest, which had the lowest electricity price, was followed by Kyiv (9.8 c€/kWh), Belgrade (10.5 c€/kWh), and Podgorica (11.1 c€/kWh).
Electricity prices in the capitals of Central and Eastern European countries tended to be lower than the EU average. The only exception was Prague (35.3 c€/kWh), which was the only capital in the region where prices exceeded the EU average.
Electricity prices exceeded the EU average in all capital cities of Europe's five largest economies.
Why do electricity prices differ so much?
Experts attribute the differences in nominal residential electricity prices to various market-specific factors. "The different energy mix in generation (dependency on natural gas, RES, etc.), supplier procurement and pricing strategies, cross-subsidisation, the tariff mix and the support measures that are still effective in some markets, have an impact on the formation of the prices", explained Rafaila Grigoriou, HEPI project manager & head of VaasaETT's Greek office, and Iliana Papamarkou, denior data analyst at VaasaETT.
For example, they added that Berlin topped the list largely due to the significant cost of network charges and taxes. If only the energy component were considered, Germany would rank 10th among the 33 analysed markets, lower than Italy, Great Britain, and the Netherlands.
Electricity prices in purchasing power standards
When adjusted for purchasing power standards (PPS), electricity price rankings shift significantly, as PPS provides a fairer comparison. As an artificial currency unit, it eliminates general price level differences.
When expressed in PPS, electricity prices varied from 10.6 in Oslo to 43.9 in Prague, showing the significant shifts in rankings compared to nominal prices. "Czechia is a characteristic example of how market ranking changes when expressing prices in PPS", Grigoriou and Papamarkou of VaasaETT told. Prague ranks 7th in nominal electricity prices but takes the top spot in PPS.
The most dramatic ranking changes include:
Bern: Dropped from 5th in EUR to 23rd in PPS
Luxembourg City: Dropped from 12th in EUR to 24th in PPS
Copenhagen: Dropped from 3rd in EUR to 15th in PPS
Warsaw: Moved up from 18th in EUR to 6th in PPS
Vilnius: Moved up from 16th in EUR to 7th in PPS
These changes suggest that, while Eastern European capitals often have lower nominal electricity prices, lower purchasing power makes electricity a greater financial burden for households. Conversely, Western and Northern European cities may appear expensive in nominal terms but become relatively more affordable when adjusted for PPS.
Stockholm is a major outlier in gas prices
Across the EU, residential end-user gas prices ranged from 2.5 c€/kWh in Budapest to 33.3 c€/kWh in Stockholm—over 13 times higher than in Budapest.
"This can be explained by the nature of the Swedish gas market; the small size of only 77,000 household gas customers in the whole of Sweden of which 50,000 in the isolated gas network in Stockholm", Rafaila Grigoriou and Iliana Papamarkou told.
Amsterdam (18.3 c€/kWh), Bern (17.4 c€/kWh) and Rome (15 c€/kWh) followed the Swedish capital.
London had the lowest rate among the top five economies at 8.8 c€/kWh.
Grigoriou and Papamarkou attributed the gas price disparities to several factors, including "different procurement and pricing strategies, the storage levels, temperature and weather conditions, the interconnection with other markets, cross-subsidisation and the tariff mix".
Gas prices in PPS varied from 3.8 c€/kWh in Budapest to 28.3 c€/kWh in Stockholm. Notable ranking shifts include
Bern: Dropped from 3rd in EUR to16th in PPS
Luxembourg City: Dropped from 10th in EUR to 21st in PPS
Copenhagen: Dropped from 3rd in EUR to 15th in PPS
Dublin: Moved up from 8th in EUR to 18th in PPS
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