Brussels – Gas and electricity prices for European businesses are falling, but differences between Member States remain. In the first half of 2026, the average cost of electricity in the European Union fell by 5.4 per cent from the same period the previous year, while the cost of gas fell by 6.7 per cent, according to data published by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office.
In Italy, the drop was more modest for electricity, at 3.3 per cent, while it reached 7.1 per cent for gas. The price of electricity for Italian businesses, however, remains higher than the European average: 0.2253 euros per kilowatt-hour (kWh), compared with around 0.18 euros in the EU.
For electricity, the average price in the EU stood at 0.18 euros per kWh, down compared with the previous half-year (-2 per cent). The figure pertains to non-domestic consumers with annual consumption between 500 and 2,000 megawatt-hours (MWh). Differences between Member States remain significant: the highest prices were recorded in Ireland, at 0.2666 euros per kWh, followed by Cyprus (0.2306 euros per kWh) and Italy (0.2253 euros per kWh). At the other end of the scale are Finland (0.0928 euros per kWh) and Sweden (0.1177 euros per kWh).
Year-on-year, electricity prices fell in 19 EU countries. The sharpest falls were recorded in Luxembourg (-23.6 per cent), the Czech Republic (-11.7 per cent) and Greece (-11.5 per cent). In eight countries, however, they rose: the largest increases were recorded in Sweden and Finland (both +18.7 per cent) and Bulgaria (+14.3 per cent).
The annual figures for gas are also down, but a comparison with the second half of 2025 shows a reversal of the trend. The average price in the EU stood at around 0.06 euros per kWh, up 1.8 per cent from the previous semester, but down 6.7 per cent compared with the first six months of 2025. The share of taxes in the total price rose to 17.5 per cent, compared with 15.9 per cent in the previous half-year.
The highest prices were recorded in Sweden (0.11 euros per kWh), Finland (0.09 euros per kWh) and the Netherlands (0.08 euros per kWh), while the lowest were observed in Bulgaria and Belgium, both at 0.04 euros per kWh. Year-on-year, tariffs fell in all EU countries for which data is available, except Sweden, where they rose by 3.1 per cent. The sharpest falls were recorded in Belgium and France (-13.1 per cent), Lithuania (-12.5 per cent), Hungary (-11.4 per cent) and Bulgaria (-10.7 per cent).
The decline follows years of high volatility in the energy markets, triggered by the 2021 gas crisis and exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Subsequent geopolitical tensions have continued to expose Europe to risks relating to security of supply and fluctuations in international prices. The decline recorded in the first half of 2026 therefore offers a sigh of relief for the European manufacturing sector. Still, it does not eliminate national disparities or the problem of energy costs, which remain a particularly significant issue for industrial competitiveness.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
