In the first half of 2023 households in the European Union paid the highest gas and electricity prices since Eurostat started keeping records on those price trends, while Croatia's household gas and electricity prices were among the lowest, and considerably below the EU average.

The EU average household electricity price in H1 2023 increased 14.2% to €28.9 per 100 kWh, compared to the corresponding period in 2022, Eurostat reported on Friday. The price rise in the second half of 2022 was 19.8%.

The 2023 H1 average household gas price in the 27-strong Union surged by 37.7% compared to the first half of 2022, and stood at €11.87 per 100 kWh. The gas price for households jumped by 45% in the second half of 2022 year on year.

Data also show that in the first half of 2023 household electricity prices increased in 22 EU countries compared with the first half of 2022.

“After a significant increase in prices that started before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but skyrocketed through the second semester of 2022, electricity and gas prices are stabilising. The prices of energy rose due to an increase in the price of natural gas, which is considered the marginal fuel. This happened because the imports from Russia decreased, and other importers were sought,” Eurostat reports.

Governments have established mechanisms and schemes to alleviate the pressure of high energy bills on consumers, and some of those measures also include subventions.

In the first half of 2023, the Netherlands stopped applying tax relief for energy and as a result, electricity bills for households increased tenfold from the first half of 2022.

Also, Lithuania, Romania and Latvia saw a surge in electricity bills.

On the other hand, in Spain, the electricity price for households dropped 41%, and in Denmark the decline was 16%.

In Croatia, the average electricity household bill per month was €14.8 per 100 kWh, including all the taxes, and this was 9.3% more than in the first half of 2022. Those bills were 12.6% higher year on year.

Expressed in euro, Bulgaria’s electricity price lowest, Hungary with lowest gas price

“Expressed in euro, average household electricity prices in the first half of 2023 were lowest in Bulgaria (€11.4 per 100 kWh), Hungary (€11.6), and Malta (€12.6) and highest in the Netherlands (€47.5), Belgium (€43.5), Romania (€42.0), and Germany (€41.3).”

“Expressed in euro, average household gas prices in the first half of 2023 were lowest in Hungary (€3.4 per 100 kWh), Croatia (€4.1) and Slovakia (€5.7) and highest in the Netherlands (€24.8), Sweden (€21.9), and Denmark (€16.6),” Eurostat says.