According to Eurostat, residential energy prices continued to increase between the second half of 2017 and the second half of 2018, with electricity prices rising by 3.5% to an average of €21.1c/kWh and rising by 5.7% for gas to an average of €6.7c/kWh.
The highest increase in residential electricity prices occurred in Cyprus (+20%), Spain (+14%), the Netherlands (+9.7%), the United Kingdom (+8.6%), Ireland (+7.8%) and Estonia (+7.5%), while prices decreased in only four countries: Latvia (-4.5%), Poland (-2.5%), Germany (-1.6%) and Lithuania (-0.9%). The highest electricity prices were recorded in Denmark (€31.2c/kWh), followed by Germany (€30c/kWh) and Belgium (€29.4c/kWh), while the lowest prices were posted in Bulgaria (€10.1c/kWh), Lithuania (€11c/kWh) and Hungary (€11.2c/kWh).
In the second half of 2018, residential gas prices ranged from below €4c/kWh in Hungary, Romania and Croatia to around €9c/kWh in the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark and Italy and more than €12c/kWh in Sweden. Prices rose by more than 17% in Ireland and by more than 16% in Bulgaria, Sweden and Romania, whereas they contracted in Croatia (-2.5%), Portugal (-1.9%), Hungary (-0.4%) and Germany (-0.2%).
On average, taxes and levies in the EU accounted for more than 1/3 (37%) of the residential electricity price in the second half of 2018, and for more than a quarter (27%) of the gas price.