EC – Report on energy prices and costs in Europe
The EC published the biennial report on energy prices and cost in Europe that highlights how lower supply costs, together with recently stable network tariffs and taxes and levies, enabled household electricity prices to fall in 2017 for the first time since 2008.
The report estimates the increase in oil prices could have had a negative impact on EU growth (-0.4% GDP in 2017) and on inflation (+0.6%) therefore it strongly supports the EU’s decarbonisation objectives and the Commission’s recent a long-term strategy for GHG emission reductions and the initiative from December 2018 to strengthen the international role of the euro.
The report analyses the impact of energy costs on household consumers particularly for the poorest, for whom energy bills can account for more than 10% of spending and the international competitiveness of EU businesses (particularly of energy-intensive industries for which energy costs generally range from 3-20% of their production costs). It looks at energy taxation (4.7% of total tax revenues) and at fossil fuels subsidies (which did not decrease in recent years) in a context of rising energy subsidies to finance the energy transition (€170 billion in 2016).
Finally the report also looks at the impact of price regulation and the potential benefits of dynamic pricing.
Her the Staff Working Document and the Annex 1 | Annex 2 | Annex 3