EU Energy Prices Fell. In Austria They Rose 7.6%.
Silver Data Lab Research Desk · Statistical analysis · Published on 09 February 2026
- Data source
- Eurostat
- Reference period
- 2025
- Last updated
- 09 February 2026
Key estimates
- Energy prices in the EU fell 0.6% on average in 2025.
- Austria records +7.6%, Romania +7.5% and Belgium +4.7%.
- France records -5.4%, Cyprus -5.2% and Czechia -4.4%.
- The spread between Austria and France is 13 percentage points on the same commodity class.
- Energy is the component that ranks Member States most differently from the headline inflation rate.
A negative number across the Union
Energy prices in the EU were 0.6% lower on average in 2025 than in 2024. After three years in which energy drove European inflation upward, the direction reversed.
That is the aggregate. Underneath it, national rates run from +7.6% to -5.4%.
Why the spread is so wide on a traded commodity
Wholesale gas and electricity are traded across an integrated European market. The price a household pays is not.
Between the wholesale market and the meter sit network charges, taxes and levies, national price caps, the timing of tariff changes, and the residue of the emergency support schemes introduced in 2022. Most of those are national, and several of them were being withdrawn during 2025 on different timetables.
Austria at +7.6% is largely a case of support being removed: measures that had suppressed household energy prices expired, and the index recorded the increase as inflation even though the underlying wholesale price was falling. Nothing about Austrian energy became more expensive to produce.
That is the central difficulty in reading this indicator for 2025. It is measuring the unwinding of interventions as much as the movement of energy prices.
The falls
France records -5.4%, Cyprus -5.2%, Czechia -4.4% and Denmark. In these Member States regulated tariffs or market prices moved down over the year.
France's position reflects a regulated electricity tariff that was reduced in 2025, following the period in which the same mechanism had held prices below market levels and was being repaid.
Why this matters for the headline rate
Energy has an outsized effect on measured inflation relative to its weight in the basket, because it moves further and faster than almost anything else.
In 2025 that effect ran downward: a negative energy component pulled headline inflation below what food and services alone would have produced. The overall inflation study on this site reports the result, and the services study reports the component that pushed the other way.
A country's headline rate in 2025 is therefore substantially a statement about where it sat on this ranking, and the Member States at the top of the food ranking are not the Member States at the top of this one.
Energy price inflation, 2025
| Country | annual average % change | Gap to EU averagepercentage points, derived |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | 7.6 | +8.2 |
| Romania | 7.5 | +8.1 |
| Belgium | 4.7 | +5.3 |
| European Unionaggregate | -0.6 | — |
| Czechia | -4.4 | −3.8 |
| Cyprus | -5.2 | −4.6 |
| France | -5.4 | −4.8 |
What these figures cannot tell you
- 2025 measures policy withdrawal as much as prices
- Emergency energy support introduced across the Union from 2022 was removed on different national timetables. Where a subsidy ended, the index records a price increase even if the underlying cost of energy fell. Austria is the clearest case.
- Household prices, not wholesale prices
- The index measures what households pay, which includes network charges, taxes and levies set nationally. Wholesale energy markets are integrated across Europe; retail prices are not.
- An annual average
- The figure compares average 2025 prices with average 2024 prices. Within-year timing of tariff changes affects the annual average in ways that a point-to-point comparison would not show.
- Composition of the energy category
- The category combines electricity, gas, heating fuels and motor fuels. Member States differ in the mix households consume, so the same commodity movements produce different national indices.
Frequently asked questions
- Did energy prices fall in the EU?
- On average yes. EU energy prices were 0.6% lower in 2025 than in 2024, after three years in which energy drove European inflation upward. Thirteen Member States were above the EU figure and eleven recorded outright increases.
- Which EU country had the highest energy inflation?
- Austria, at 7.6% in 2025, followed by Romania at 7.5% and Belgium at 4.7%. The Austrian figure largely reflects the expiry of measures that had been suppressing household energy prices rather than a rise in underlying costs.
- Where did energy prices fall most?
- France, at -5.4%, followed by Cyprus at -5.2% and Czechia at -4.4%. France's regulated electricity tariff was reduced during the year.
- Why do energy prices differ so much between EU countries?
- Because wholesale energy markets are integrated but retail prices are not. Network charges, taxes, levies, price caps and the timing of tariff changes are all national, and in 2025 emergency support schemes were being withdrawn on different national timetables.
Methodological note
This study uses the energy special aggregate of the harmonised index of consumer prices, as the annual average rate of change for 2025.
Values cover all 27 Member States and the EU aggregate as published.
The attribution of the Austrian increase to the withdrawal of support measures is offered as an explanation consistent with the data rather than as a finding from it: this extraction contains prices, not policy. The comparisons with food, services and headline inflation draw on companion studies on this site.
Source data
The underlying series can be inspected and re-downloaded from the Eurostat data browser. The filters below are the ones applied.
HICP - annual data (average index and rate of change)
prc_hicp_aind
- Filters applied:
- freq=A · unit=RCH_A_AVG · coicop=NRG · time=2025
- Extracted:
- 2026-08-11
- Source last updated:
- 2026-02-06
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