Electrification is Europe’s pathway to climate neutrality, energy security and independence from fossil fuel imports – but it will only succeed if electricity is more affordable than fossil fuels.
Our new collaborative report examines seven national contexts and how structural changes and policy choices create artificial barriers that further undermine electricity competitiveness. This report comes as the European Commission is about to adopt its Electrification Action Plan and a legal proposal addressing network charges and electricity taxation.
The path to affordable electricity: lessons from 7 European countries
In a glimpse:
- This report examines electricity prices and their drivers across seven European markets (Poland, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Czechia and Germany), revealing that while national circumstances differ significantly (reflecting distinct energy mixes, market structure, infrastructure needs and policy choices), the key barriers to affordable electricity follow common patterns: fossil fuel dependence, limited storage and flexibility, infrastructure constraints, rising network costs, and inadequate taxes and levies, hampering affordable electricity and electrification.
- Despite these different national contexts, the analysis identifies a series of best practices already in place, and a shared set of policy solutions that are needed to lower prices and incentivise electrification: accelerating renewable deployment and integration, improving network charges for a more efficient use of the grid, reforming taxes and levies that disproportionately burden electricity, and designing fair price mechanisms ensuring that the benefits of the clean energy transition translate into lower and more stable electricity bills for consumers.
- Ultimately, making electricity affordable is about more than lowering bills. It’s essential to unlocking electrification, strengthening energy independence, and securing lasting support for the transition to a climate-neutral economy.
For more information:
- Kasia Piasecka, Communications Coordinator, CAN Europe | katarzyna.piasecka@caneurope.org | +48 516 634 366
- Christophe Jost, Energy Policy Coordinator, CAN Europe | christophe.jost@caneurope.org