Electricity prices in the EU, first half of 2026: what households pay per kWh, in euros and in purchasing power

Households in the EU paid an average of 0.2832 euros per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity in the first half of 2026, with all taxes and levies included. That is 1.6% less than in the first half of 2025, when the EU average was 0.2879. In the euro area, the price was 0.2851 euros, 5.5% lower than a year earlier. The figures come from Eurostat's data on electricity prices for household consumers, updated on 19 October 2026, which has first half 2026 figures for all 27 countries.

What the price measures

There is no single price for electricity: tariffs depend on the supplier, the contract and how much a household uses. To compare countries, Eurostat collects average prices for consumption bands over each six-month period. This article uses the band Eurostat uses for household consumers in its own analysis, an annual consumption between 2,500 and 4,999 kWh. The price includes energy, network charges, meter rental and other services, plus taxes, levies and VAT. The EU and euro area figures are weighted averages based on household consumption.

The price is therefore not the tariff of a particular contract or the bill of a particular home. It is a national average for one consumption band.

The second column converts the price into purchasing power standards (PPS). Eurostat describes the PPS as an artificial currency unit with which, in theory, the same amount of goods and services can be bought in every country. A price in PPS shows how heavy the cost of electricity is compared with local price levels, not just its cost in euros.

The table

Price per kWh for households consuming 2,500 to 4,999 kWh a year, all taxes included, first half of 2026, in euros and in PPS with four decimals, ranked by the price in euros. The last column is the change in the euro price compared with the first half of 2025.

The most and least expensive in euros

Ireland had the highest price, 0.3871 euros per kWh, followed by Germany (0.3618), Belgium (0.3575), Austria (0.3260) and Italy (0.3142). Nine countries were above the EU average.

The lowest prices were in Hungary (0.1139), Malta (0.1268) and Bulgaria (0.1341), all less than half of the EU average. Croatia (0.1816) followed.

How the ranking changes in purchasing power

Measured in PPS, the order changes a lot. Romania moved from 9th in euros to 1st, with 0.4689 PPS per kWh. Poland moved from 7th to 2nd (0.4112) and Czechia from 8th to 3rd (0.3434). Slovakia also climbed 8 places, from 23rd to 15th, and Latvia and Croatia climbed 7. In these countries, electricity takes a larger bite out of local purchasing power than the euro price suggests.

The opposite happened in countries where the price in PPS is lower than in euros. Finland fell 11 places, from 10th in euros to 21st in PPS. Sweden fell 10 places, from 6th to 16th, and the Netherlands fell 9, from 14th to 23rd. Austria and Denmark fell 7 places each.

At the bottom, the PPS ranking looks much like the euro ranking: Malta (0.1375) and Hungary (0.1470) had the lowest prices in PPS too, followed by Luxembourg (0.1547).

Change over one year

Compared with the first half of 2025, the euro price rose in 16 countries and fell in 11. The largest rise was in Romania, 47.9%, followed by Ireland (19.8%), Finland (18.4%), Poland (17.2%) and Slovenia (17.0%). The largest falls were in Denmark (31.9%) and Luxembourg (24.1%), followed by Czechia (9.3%).

For countries outside the euro area, part of the change in euros can come from the exchange rate, since Eurostat converts national currency prices with the average exchange rate of each period.

The share of taxes and levies

The same dataset also publishes the price without taxes and levies. The difference between the two prices shows what taxes and levies add. For the EU as a whole, they made up 28.4% of the household price. In the Netherlands, the price without taxes (0.2681 euros) was higher than the price with them (0.2440), so taxes and levies together reduced the final price.

For general price rises, see inflation in the EU, for the overall cost of living, the cheapest countries in the EU to live in, and for housing costs, the housing cost burden in Europe.

Notes on the data

• Provisional figures. The first half 2026 figures for Malta and Poland are provisional.
• Austria. The first half 2025 figure used for the change is estimated.
• Second source. At the time of writing, Eurostat's Statistics Explained article still covers the second half of 2025; its figures for that period match the database.

Country profiles: Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Finland, Sweden and Netherlands.