Every year, Eurostat publishes six-monthly average prices for electricity and natural gas for household and non-household consumers in EU member states. Prices from Semester 1, 2022 have recently been published.

Taking into account the annual consumption of electricity and natural gas, prices are available at consumption levels 7 and 6 for non-household consumers and consumption levels 3 and 5 for household consumers, respectively. Consumers in the four lowest tiers of annual consumption of up to 20,000 MW account for the majority of electricity consumption (52%), according to an analysis sent on Tuesday by Alpha Bank’s chief economist. , Ella Callai.

and the majority of household consumption (58%) is provided by households in the two lowest consumption levels of up to 2.5 MWh per year

In the case of natural gas, the majority of consumption (62.7%) is consumed by the four lowest levels of consumption up to 277,000 MWh per year, while the majority of domestic consumption (61%) is provided by those with 5.5 to 55 MW -h per year.

According to NCRECP data, in the first half of 2022, domestic and non-domestic consumers consumed 56.4 TWh of natural gas (of which 32.5% of domestic consumption) and 24.1 TWh of electricity (of which 28.5% of domestic consumption) . As consumption is clearly shifted towards gas and a significant share of electricity is produced on the basis of fossil fuels (38% of electricity generation in the first 9 months of 2022), the green transition will require significant investment among both households and consumers. .

Current price levels and tariff schemes play a significant role in determining consumer preferences for the type and amount of energy consumed and may therefore encourage or not encourage voluntary participation in the green transition.

In the first half of 2022, the average electricity price for non-household consumers reached 0.25 euros per kWh, after a 2.4-fold increase compared to the first half of 2021. According to the consumption levels, the price increase ranged from 2.1 to 2.7 times, the largest increase was recorded by consumers who are included in the consumption levels with the largest share in the total electricity consumption, that is, consumers with an annual consumption of 2-20 thousand MWh (15 .8% of the total electricity consumption) and consumers with an annual consumption of more than 150 MWh (19.5% of the total electricity consumption).

However, the price of electricity remained inversely proportional to consumption in the first half of 2022. While consumers with the lowest annual consumption (representing 4% of total electricity consumption) paid €0.32 per kWh, consumers with the highest annual consumption (representing 19.5% of total consumption) paid €0.2 per KWh (Fig. 1, b).

The average price of electricity for residential consumers reached EUR 0.23 per kWh in the 1st semester of 2022, after a 1.5-fold increase compared to the same semester of 2021.

The price was almost the same for all levels of consumption (Fig. 2, b). Analyzing several countries in the region, according to an analysis by Alpha Bank, electricity prices for non-household consumers in Romania are comparable to those in Greece, higher than in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

In all analyzed countries, with the exception of Hungary, where prices per unit of electricity are directly proportional to consumption, unit prices are inversely proportional to the amount of electricity consumed. For domestic consumers, unit prices for electricity in Romania are comparable to prices in Greece, higher than prices in Hungary and Poland, and lower than prices in the Czech Republic. Only Hungary applies a single tariff system, as does Romania. The Czech Republic and Poland have inverse tariff systems proportional to consumption, while in Greece unit prices are higher for end users (included in the lowest and highest annual consumption levels).

The average unit price of natural gas reached EUR 0.09 per kWh for non-residential customers in the first half of 2022, after an average increase of 3.5 times compared to the first half of the previous year. Non-domestic consumers with annual consumption from 277 to 1,100 thousand MWh rose the least (2.8 times), and non-domestic consumers with the highest annual consumption rose the most (5.9 times). Thus, natural gas is more expensive for extreme non-domestic consumers (included in the lowest and highest levels of consumption), whose consumption is 15.5% of the total consumption of natural gas.

In the same period, the unit price for household consumers increased by an average of 2.1 times, to 0.06 EUR per kWh, while the price increase was more than 2 times for extreme consumers (included in the lowest and highest level consumption) and 1.9 times for consumers included in the level of intermediate consumption. Consumers with the lowest level of consumption below 5.5 MWh per year have the highest price per unit, which is 8.2% of the total consumption of natural gas (Fig. 4, a). Compared to the region, for domestic consumers, the price per unit of natural gas in Romania is lower than in Greece and the Czech Republic, and higher than in Hungary and Poland, and the tariff scheme is inversely proportional to consumption, as in the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland.

Hungary applies a single tariff scheme (regardless of consumption).

For non-household consumers, the price per unit of natural gas in Romania is the highest compared to the analyzed countries, and the tariff scheme applies the reverse principle of proportionality of consumption, for example in Poland and Greece, with the difference that the largest consumers pay, as the smallest consumers, gas is more expensive. Only the Czech Republic and Hungary, through a tariff system directly proportional to consumption, stimulate the reduction of gas consumption.

The high consumption of natural gas and electricity, which is more expensive than natural gas (four times for residential consumers and three times for non-residential consumers), tends to prevent voluntary participation in the green transition. The price of electricity, the highest in the region for non-household consumers, not only discourages them from going green, but also reduces their competitiveness.

Natural gas is the most expensive in the region for non-household consumers, who have the lowest and highest consumption, respectively. Theoretically, these groups of consumers, whose consumption is 15.5% of the total consumption of natural gas, may be interested in switching to electricity.

But small consumers also tend to have low incomes, which probably can’t cover three times the electricity bill. However, since an environmental tax will be included in the price of natural gas to penalize the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from its use, the resulting price increase will force both residential and non-residential consumers to resort to methods of reducing natural gas consumption and replacing it with renewable electricity. sources Until 2021, the price of natural gas in Romania did not include an environmental tax for either domestic or domestic consumers, unlike other countries in the region, where the environmental tax was included in the price for non-domestic consumers, and in Greece also in the price for domestic consumers.