Households in Kosovo*, Serbia have cheapest electricity in Europe

Kosovo* has the lowest gross tariffs for power for households and only Malta has a smaller share of taxes and levies for electricity in whole Europe. Turkey reported the biggest jump in power prices for the second half of 2019 in the continent on an annual basis.

The regular semiannual statistical report has shown retail consumers in the European Union paid EUR 21.6 per 100 kWh of electricity in the second half of last year or 1.3% more than in the same period of 2018. The reading almost matched inflation in the 27-member bloc. Eurostat’s update for the European Union and its surroundings revealed the rate in Kosovo* declined 4.4% year over year to EUR 6.1, which means households there paid the least for electricity in Europe.

Serbia is next in the list, with just EUR 7.2 for 100 kWh. The price grew 1.6%, but only 1.2% in national currency. Of note, the EU’s statistical office is still waiting for data from several neighborhood countries.

The EU released the update without data from Ukraine, North Macedonia, BiH, Albania and Montenegro

One year before, the readings were EUR 4.1 for Ukraine and EUR 7.87 for North Macedonia. Households in Bosnia and Herzegovina have paid EUR 8.71 and the rate in Albania was EUR 9.1, also close to the bottom of the pile. The gauge was at EUR 10.3 for Montenegro.

The measure showed a 20.2% increase for Turkey, which has been suffering from extreme inflation. But the surge was even stronger in euros  – 21.4%.

Bulgaria has the lowest household electricity tariffs in the EU and one of the lowest tax rates in the segment

The standard includes taxes and levies, which may vary. Malta’s burden is the lowest in the list, at 6%, followed by 13% in Kosovo*.

Taxes and levies make up 16% of the price in Ireland and 17% in Bulgaria. Turkey follows with 19%. Iceland and Hungary charge 21% on top of the nominal price. Next are Croatia (22%) and Greece (23%) while the level is at 24% in Lithuania and Serbia. In comparison, the share of the fiscal burden was 41% in the whole EU.

Households in Turkey saw the biggest jump in electricity prices in Europe in the second half of 2019 both in euros and national currency

The total price fell 5.8% on an annual scale in Greece, the most after Denmark in domestic currency, and landed at EUR 15.5 per 100 kWh. Bulgaria had the fourth-biggest drop, 4.7%. In the joint currency, it was 4.5% to EUR 9.6, the lowest level in the EU.

One other notable change among the markets followed by Balkan Green Energy News was in Romania. The benchmark power price jumped 10.1%. In other terms, the rise was 7.8% to EUR 14.2 per 100 kWh.

Romania is in the lead both by price hikes and by gross tariffs measured by purchasing power standards

In purchasing power standards, prices for households in Romania were the highest in the continent, and Cyprus held seventh place. They were the lowest in Iceland, followed by Norway, Serbia and Finland.

In our region, electricity was the most expensive in Cyprus – EUR 22.4 or 2.4% more than in the second half of 2018. Taxes and levies make up 30%. Slovenia followed with EUR 16.7, a year-on-year increase of 1.7%. The country has a 31% tax rate for power in the households sector.