The highest electricity prices including taxes for household consumers in the first semester of 2024 were found in Germany (€39.5 per 100 kWh), followed by Ireland (€37.4) and Denmark (€37.1).
At the other end of the scale, Hungarian households had the lowest electricity prices (€10.9 per 100 kWh), followed by Bulgaria (€11.9) and Malta (€12.6).
Latvian electricity prices are somewhere in the middle. Though Latvians pay slightly less (€25.5 per kWh) than the EU average, they pay more than their counterparts in Estonia (€23.0) and Lithuania (€23.1), a well as countries such as Sweden, Finland and Spain.
The figures show that common grumbles that Latvians pay one of the highest prices in the EU for their electricity are not strictly true – they pay about the average. However, Latvians' incomes and purchasing power are still considerably below the EU average, energy costs do have a bigger impact on people's expenditure – particularly during the bitter winters, one of which is just starting.
The map below takes the purchasing power standard (PPS) into account, grouping the available countries in 6 categories, with electricity price categories ranging from above 37 PPS per 100 KWh to below 16.5 PPS per 100 KWh. This makes the relatively high burden of electricity prices on Latvian households a little clearer.
Electricity prices based on PPS were highest in Czechia (42.2) and Cyprus (36.1). The lowest electricity prices based on the purchasing power standard were observed in Malta (14) and Luxembourg (15.3).
Some good news for Latvian consumers was that prices saw a considerable fall in the first half of 2024 compared with the first half of 2023.
