Brussels, Belgium. The European Central Bank said persistently high electricity prices are undermining the European Union’s strategy to achieve net-zero emissions through widespread electrification. The ECB also noted that electricity demand has remained largely stagnant over the past decade.
Stagnant demand despite policy push
The ECB said that despite the launch of the Clean Industrial Deal in February 2025, electricity demand has remained largely unchanged over the last decade. The European Commission aims to raise electricity’s share of total energy consumption from 23 percent in 2024 to 32 percent by 2030, but euro area electricity consumption fell by 6.3 percent between 2015 and 2023.
Electrification central to renewable targets
The report said increasing electricity’s share in final energy consumption is key to meeting targets set in the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive because electricity can be generated more readily from renewable sources than other forms of energy. It added that the consumption target could be difficult to reach given the decline in euro area electricity use from 2015 to 2023.
Cost structure and price disparities
The report’s authors said energy and supply costs accounted for about 50 percent of the electricity bill for euro area households and 63 percent for energy-intensive industries in 2024. It also found that households pay around twice as much for electricity as energy-intensive industries, driven by higher taxes, network charges, and VAT.
In Germany, Spain, and Italy, household electricity prices are roughly 100 percent higher than those paid by large industrial firms, while the gap is narrower in France and the Netherlands.
Price rises since 2019 and impact on industry use
The report said electricity prices rose by about 53 percent for energy-intensive industries and about 33 percent for households between 2019 and 2024, mainly due to the 2021-22 energy crisis. It added that total expenditure increased significantly for both groups, even as consumption by energy-intensive industries fell by 14.5 percent as firms responded to higher costs.
How do differences in taxes and network charges affect what you pay for electricity compared with large industrial firms?