EU leader: electricity prices rose the most in Romania

Romania became the European Union's price-increase champion on the residential electricity market in the first half of 2026. According to Eurostat data published on October 30, the price of household electricity rose by 51.9 percent in a year, by far the largest increase among the member states, ahead of Ireland, where electricity became 19.8 percent more expensive, and Finland, where it rose by 18.4 percent.

According to data based on an analysis by the Greek outlet Energy Press, residential electricity prices rose in 13 member states, fell in 11 and remained unchanged in three; in Denmark, for instance, it became 31.7 percent cheaper, and in Luxembourg 24.1 percent. The EU average was 0.28 euros per kilowatt-hour, 2.2 percent less than in the second half of 2025, but still well above pre-2022 levels. Gas, meanwhile, became cheaper across Europe: the average residential price fell to 0.11 euros per kilowatt-hour, the lowest level since the first half of 2022, a drop of 10.2 percent over six months and 3.5 percent over a year. In Romania, however, gas prices also rose the most, along with Croatia and Slovakia.

The main reason for the Romanian price increase is that the government removed the electricity price cap for households and businesses in June 2025, so the population suddenly found itself facing market prices. Poland scrapped a similar measure at the end of 2025, while the Netherlands, Latvia and Portugal still subsidize certain groups of consumers. In nominal terms, Romanian electricity is not the most expensive: the highest price is paid in Ireland, at 0.39 euros per kilowatt-hour, followed by Germany and Belgium at 0.36 euros. Relative to purchasing power, however, Romanian, Polish and Czech households bear the heaviest electricity burden. Electricity is cheapest in Hungary, at 0.11 euros per kilowatt-hour, followed by Malta and Bulgaria at 0.13 euros. Gas is also cheapest in Hungary, at 0.03 euros per kilowatt-hour, compared with 0.06 euros in Romania and Slovakia, while it is most expensive in Sweden, at 0.22 euros.

According to the analysis, it is not only the removal of subsidies that is keeping prices high. Taxes and fees, which governments cut during the crisis, have gradually returned, accounting for 28.4 percent of residential electricity prices and 32.1 percent of gas prices in the first half of 2026, meaning that the drop in wholesale prices has only partially reached consumers' bills. Renewable energy sources accounted for 44 percent of electricity in the EU, and according to a model by the European Environment Agency, they brought savings of about 29 billion euros in the first 16 weeks of 2026, while gas price volatility increased wholesale electricity costs by about 13 billion euros. Gas-fired power plants set the wholesale electricity price in 66 percent of cases in Italy, 55 percent in the Czech Republic, but only 9 percent in Spain. According to the EU's energy regulation agency, ACER, the Middle East conflict increased Europe's gas import bill by 18–33 billion euros, as disruptions to Qatari LNG shipments passing through the Strait of Hormuz intensified competition between Europe and Asia. There is also reason for concern about the winter: on November 1, EU gas storage facilities were 74.62 percent full, below the nine-year average. In Romania, moreover, both reactors at the Cernavodă nuclear power plant were shut down for months, and on November 5 the country imported a record amount of electricity, more than 3,400 megawatts; that day, Romania had the most expensive electricity in Europe.

Ugar