Where the grid hits hardest: Energy distribution costs across Europe compared
The share of electricity and gas bills that goes to distribution, essentially what you pay to use the grid, also differs from country to country.
So, how much of your energy bill goes to distribution companies in Europe? And which countries pay the most for distribution? Also known as network charges, this portion of the bill mostly includes both transmission and distribution costs.
The Household Energy Price Index (HEPI), compiled by Energie-Control Austria, MEKH, and VaasaETT, provides a detailed breakdown of residential end-user electricity and gas prices. The breakdown includes four components: energy, distribution, energy taxes, and VAT.
As of April 2024, the share of distribution in household electricity prices ranged from 11% in Nicosia to 65% in Budapest, closely followed by Amsterdam (60%). However, in Amsterdam, the distribution share would drop to 39% if the tax refund were not considered.
The capital cities of Hungary and the Netherlands stand out as clear outliers, with more than half of the electricity bill going to distribution.
The EU-27 average was 28%. Other high-share cities include Luxembourg City (46%), Podgorica (43%), and Bucharest (42%).
Many Central and Eastern European cities such as Kyiv, Vilnius, Riga, Zagreb, Belgrade, and Warsaw have distribution shares well above the EU average. Western cities like Paris (35%) and Lisbon (34%) also fall into the higher group.
The Nordic capitals (Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen) tend to have lower shares (between 17%–23%).
Southern Europe shows some of the lowest distribution shares, including Athens (15%) and Rome (15%).
Cities like Berlin (29%), Vienna (30%), Tallinn (29%), Dublin (30%), and Prague (31%) are close to the EU average, showing moderate distribution cost impact.
Among the capitals of Europe's top five economies, London and Madrid had the lowest distribution share at 18%.
On average across the EU capital cities, the distribution share is slightly lower in gas prices (23%) than in electricity prices (28%).
The distribution share in residential end-user gas prices ranged from 10% in Kyiv to 43% in Bern.
In addition to Bern, the distribution share exceeded one-third of gas bills in Sofia (37%) and Bratislava (34%). In Dublin, it came close to that level at 32%.
Among the EU capitals, Amsterdam had the lowest distribution share at 13%, followed by Zagreb and Tallinn, both at 15%.
The variation in gas distribution shares among Europe's top five economies is smaller compared to electricity. London and Madrid had the highest shares at 22%, slightly below the EU average, followed by Rome at 21%. In Paris and Berlin, the shares were even lower—17% and 16%, respectively.
Rafaila Grigoriou, HEPI project manager & head of VaasaETT's Greek office, and Ioannis Korras, senior energy market analyst at VaasaETT explained that network costs are determined based on local requirements and national strategies for the development and upgrading of distribution and transmission networks. A significant portion of national network investment costs is passed on to end-user bills through network charges.
'Disparities among markets are primarily driven by their investment plans and are related to electrification demand, level of RES penetration, distributed generation, the age of the network infrastructure etc.' Grigoriou and Korras told Euronews.
VaasaETT experts also noted that the comparison of network cost shares in total bills between countries may not always accurately reflect the true significance of network costs in some cases. This is especially true in cases where regulations or support schemes affect the energy component of the bill.
Cities like Budapest and Bucharest clearly illustrate this effect. In Budapest, the electricity distribution share is 65%, equal to 5.94 c€/kWh. In contrast, Bucharest has a lower distribution share of 42%, but the actual cost is higher at 6.75 c€/kWh. This is due to differences in end-user electricity prices: 9.1 c€/kWh in Budapest versus 16.1 c€/kWh in Bucharest.
The same pattern applies to gas distribution in these cities as well.
The breakdown of energy bills can vary over time or during extraordinary situations, depending on the country. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is a clear example of such a disruption, which led to sharp changes in energy prices.
'Since the beginning of the energy crisis, there has been a significant number of temporary support measures that involved the reduction or abolishment of network charges or taxes in European countries,' Rafaila Grigoriou told.
'Those have affected both electricity and gas bills and a small number of those are in fact still active in some markets. Slovenia is an example of this for residential electricity customers.' she added.
While this article does not aim to analyse or compare final consumer energy prices across Europe in depth, providing these figures still offers valuable context.
As of April 2025, household end-user electricity prices ranged from 9.1 € cents per kWh in Budapest to 40.4 c€/kWh in Berlin according to the HEPI. The EU-27 average was 24.7 c€/kWh.
Among EU capital cities, gas prices in the same period ranged from 2.5 c€/kWh in Budapest to 34.1 c€/kWh in Stockholm, with an EU average of 11.1 c€/kWh.
Euronews compared and analysed residential end-user electricity and gas prices across Europe as of January 2025, examining both nominal prices and those adjusted for purchasing power.
The article entitled 'Electricity and Gas Prices Across Europe' also explores the factors driving the differences in energy prices across European countries.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


CNBC
28 minutes ago
- CNBC
Oil prices climb on U.S. trade optimism, drop in crude stockpiles
Oil prices rose on Thursday, buoyed by optimism over U.S. trade negotiations that would ease pressure on the global economy and a sharper-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories. Brent crude futures LCOc1 gained 24 cents, or 0.4%, to $68.75 a barrel by 0032 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 25 cents, or 0.4%, to $65.50 per barrel. Both benchmarks were little changed on Wednesday as markets monitored developments in U.S.-European Union trade talks, following President Donald Trump's tariff deal with Japan. The agreement lowers duties on auto imports and spares Tokyo from new levies in exchange for a $550 billion package of U.S.-bound investment and loans. "Buying was driven by optimism that progress in tariff negotiations with the U.S. would help avoid a worst-case scenario," said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, chief strategist of Nissan Securities Investment, a unit of Nissan Securities. "Still, uncertainty over U.S.-China trade talks and peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia is limiting further gains," he added, predicting WTI will likely remain range-bound between $60 and $70. Two European diplomats said on Wednesday that the EU and the U.S. are moving toward a trade deal that could include a 15% U.S. baseline tariff on EU goods and possible exemptions, potentially paving the way for another major trade agreement following the Japan deal. On the supply side, U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed U.S. crude inventories fell last week by 3.2 million barrels to 419 million barrels, exceeding analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.6 million-barrel draw. Geopolitical tensions remained in focus. Russia and Ukraine held peace talks in Istanbul on Wednesday, discussing further prisoner swaps, though the two sides remain far apart on ceasefire terms and a possible meeting of their leaders. Separately, foreign oil tankers were temporarily barred from loading at Russia's main Black Sea ports due to new regulations, two industry sources said on Wednesday, effectively halting exports from Kazakhstan through a consortium partly owned by U.S. energy majors. The U.S. energy secretary said on Tuesday that the U.S. would consider sanctioning Russian oil to end the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the EU on Friday agreed its 18th sanctions package against Russia, lowering the price cap for Russian crude.

Business Insider
28 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Sam Altman is worried about one kind of tech messing with kids' brains — and it's not AI
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is worried the kids won't be alright. Altman was speaking to podcaster Theo Von in an interview that aired Wednesday when he was asked how parents could prepare their children for the AI age. Altman said what really worried him was the psychological impact addictive social media platforms could have on children. "I do have worries about kids in technology. I think this short video feed dopamine hit, it feels like it's probably messing with kids' brain development in a super deep way," he said. Representatives for Altman did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Altman said in his interview with Von that when it comes to AI, he was more concerned about how the older generation would adapt to it. The younger generation, meanwhile, "will be fine," Altman said. "If you look at the history of the world here, when there's new technology, people that grow up with it, they're always fluent. They always figure out what to do. They always learn the new kind of jobs," Altman said. "But if you're a 50-year-old and you have to learn to do things in a very different way, that doesn't always work," he added. But that's not to say that AI won't have an impact on youths. On Tuesday, Altman said at a Federal Reserve banking event that young people were over-relying on ChatGPT for decision-making. "Even if ChatGPT gives way better advice than any human therapist, something about collectively deciding we're going to live our lives the way AI tells us feels bad and dangerous," Altman said. Altman isn't the only one who has talked about the dangers posed by social media platforms to children. Jonathan Haidt, a professor at the NYU Stern School of Business, told BI in January that social media apps were "severely damaging children in the Western world." Haidt is best known for his book "The Anxious Generation" where he argued that social media and smartphones were affecting the attention spans of young people. "The decimation of human attention around the world might even be a bigger cost to humanity than the mental health and mental illness epidemic," Haidt said.

Business Insider
28 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Why China's export machine keeps humming, despite the US's tariff squeeze
China's exports to the US have slumped due to heavy tariffs under President Donald Trump' s administration. But the manufacturing giant may not be feeling the pinch as much as expected. "Fortunately for Chinese exporters, external demand from other economies has helped offset much of the drag from the US," wrote Lynn Song, ING's chief economist for Greater China, in a Wednesday note. In May, China's shipments to the US plunged nearly 35% from a year ago following Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcements. But China's export machine still grew about 5% in the same month because its fast-growing trade started to flow elsewhere. Shipments fell 16% in June despite a trade truce between the two economic giants. Over the first half of the year, China's exports to the world grew 5.9% from a year earlier, defying expectations of a broad slowdown. Growth came from trade with Southeast Asia, the EU, Latin America, and India, according to a recent analysis from ING. ING isn't the only one seeing the trend. In a Monday note, analysts at Goldman Sachs wrote that China's exports have been "resilient," in part thanks to trade rerouting. The Goldman Sachs analysts wrote that part of China's export resilience stems from "the fluidity of goods trade and Chinese exporters' ability to reroute trade flows." For the first half of the year, China's exports to the US declined by $25.7 billion — but this was more than fully offset by increased exports to other countries, resulting in growth of 5.9% from a year ago, according to ING's analysis. High-tech goods are driving China's exports The shift is particularly striking in high-tech and capital-intensive sectors. Exports of semiconductors, lithium batteries, electric vehicles, and machine parts posted double-digit percentage point growth in the first half of the year and are increasingly going to non-US buyers. "Amid China's Great Transition, China's move up the value added ladder has resulted in many Chinese champions producing very competitive products, and even in the case of US tariffs or restrictions, these products will continue to do well in other economies," wrote Song. China's automobile exports grew by 8.1% year over year in the first half of the year. Last year, just 2.1% of China's total auto exports went to the US, while 14.6% went to the European Union. Due to high EU tariffs, auto exports to the trade bloc fell by just 5.2% in the first half of the year, with declines led by Belgium and Germany. However, auto exports to Italy and Spain accelerated. This diversification is helping to offset steep declines in traditional, low-end categories like toys, furniture, and footwear, which have been hit hard by tariffs and are more easily replaced by alternative suppliers, Song added. Analysts expect China's growth to moderate in the second half of the year, particularly as the effects of front-loading to transshipment countries fade. However, exports will still be a key growth contributor, potentially helping the country reach its growth target of around 5% this year. "So long as global growth is steady and end-demand is healthy, Chinese exports are likely to continue to rise given their extreme competitiveness and the difficulties for bilateral tariffs to reduce overall trade flows," wrote Goldman Sachs's analysts.