European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices

Briefing 27-06-2016

Member States would have to collect statistics on the prices charged to industrial consumers and households for natural gas and electricity. Price data would be reported every six months for different consumption volumes, and cover energy prices, network charges, taxes and levies, and their sub-components. The proposed regulation would replace Directive 2008/92/EC that requires Member States to collect such statistics for industrial consumers. Data on gas and electricity prices for households are currently collected on a voluntary basis. Statistical data on gas and electricity prices are needed for monitoring the internal market for energy, and the impacts of various policies in the field of energy, such as support for renewable energy sources. In the context of the Energy Union strategy, the Commission has committed to preparing reports about energy costs and prices every two years, starting in 2016. The agreement reached in trilogue in June 2016 has now to be approved in plenary. This briefing updates an earlier edition, of February 2016: PE 577.981. A more recent edition of this document is available. Find it by searching by the document title at this address: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/home.html