The prices and costs for energy evolve over time depending on many different factors like the prices of inputs, market competition and market integration conditions, regulatory and policy-related costs, taxation as well as consumers’ needs and behavioural patterns.
The 6th report on energy prices and costs was published in February 2025. It assesses the impact of the recent energy crisis and its aftermath.
Dashboards
Based on the 2025 report, the Commission has developed 5 visualisation tools
The energy prices can be sorted by dimension and indicator and the energy costs can be sorted and visualised by sector and country.
Wholesale and retail prices
The 6th report highlights that European and global energy markets have been going through a severe crisis since 2020. Wholesale gas and electricity prices rose to historic levels before starting to fall in 2023, partly due to rapid EU joint emergency measures. Gas prices remained very high until the end of 2022, after which they gradually decreased to more manageable levels due to regulatory actions, reduced demand and improvements in other market fundamentals.
Retail prices reflected the increases in wholesale prices, but not uniformly (in the magnitude and the speed of the pass through) across EU countries. This was mainly due to differences in national crisis mitigation measures and their level of ambition, but also differences in EU countries’ contract-length structures and retailers’ different gas procurement strategies (long-term contracts, price hedging).
Energy costs for households and industry
The report warns about the costs for the EU from its high reliance on fossil fuel imports, noting that although the EU’s energy import bill receded to €427 billion in 2024 (after reaching the peak of €604 billion in 2022), is still a significant drain on the European economy.
Wholesale prices have stabilised on both electricity and gas markets since the energy crisis of 2021-2023, although at a level higher than their historical averages. On the other hand, due notably to the time lag in transmission of prices between the two market segments, the drop in wholesale prices is yet to bring down retail energy prices, which are still higher for households and enterprises than before 2021. Household gas prices were almost twice as high in 2023 than before the crisis. Similarly, industrial gas and electricity prices, while lower than during the crisis, are still 2-4 times higher than in the EU’s main trading partners, which threatens the long-term competitiveness of European industry. Especially in the energy-intensive sectors, soaring energy prices are a key factor impacting their competitiveness.
Revenues from energy taxation and taxes and levies imposed on energy products were affected by the energy crisis. Together with other measures, energy tax revenues decreased at the same time as many Member States compensated household and industrial for higher energy costs.