CONSUMER POLICY

Today's package of the European Commission for a possible new EU framework on climate and energy for 2030 gives an important insight on energy prices and costs in Europe both for industry and private households .

Some of the main findings are that:

• despite stable or falling consumption, the share of energy costs for households keeps rising,
• there has been a fall in wholesale electricity prices, but this has not translated into a reduction in the energy element of retail prices; on average, household electricity prices have risen 4% a year between 2008 and 2012. For gas, household prices have risen 3% a year in the same period,
• since 2008 electricity network costs for households went up by 18.5% while taxes and levies rose by 36%. For gas, the increase was 17% respectively 12-14%.
• almost all Member States have seen a consistent rise in consumer prices of electricity and gas and the differences between national prices remain large: consumers in the highest priced Member States are paying 2.5 to 4 times as much as those in the lowest priced Member States.