Aleksander Mervar, the Director of ELES, has conducted a comparative analysis of final electricity prices for 2024 based on official EUROSTAT data.
Ljubljana, May 5, 2025 - Aleksander Mervar, the Director of ELES, has conducted a comparative analysis of final electricity prices for 2024 based on official EUROSTAT data. The analysis compares electricity prices in the Republic of Slovenia with those in EU member states, with a focus on neighboring countries. It also includes the growth of network charges from 2017 to 2024. Additionally, the author empirically examined the media-highlighted correlation between a higher share of electricity produced from solar and wind power plants and higher final electricity prices.
The analysis revealed that household consumers in Slovenia had lower final electricity prices than the EU average. Slovenia ranks in the lower third of EU member states, where electricity prices are among the lowest. Compared to neighboring countries, Slovenia had higher final prices than Hungary and Croatia but lower than Austria and Italy. Notably, Hungary has the fourth lowest final prices after Bulgaria, Malta, and Luxembourg, while Croatia has the fifth lowest among the 27 EU countries. When comparing final electricity prices based on purchasing power standards, the analysis shows that prices in Slovenia were also lower than the EU average. Slovenia ranks in the lower half of EU countries in terms of prices based on purchasing power standards.
Network charges for household consumers in Slovenia were also lower than the EU average. Slovenia ranks in the lower half of EU member states, where network charges are among the lowest.
Government intervention measures are crucial for maintaining low final electricity prices. These measures include capping 90% of the electricity price and freezing the contribution for supporting electricity production from renewable energy sources (RES) and high-efficiency cogeneration (CHP). Without these measures, the annual costs for an average Slovenian household (annual consumption of 4,000 kWh) would be €345.89 or 45.77% higher. In this case, the annual costs for an average Slovenian household would be the 11th highest in the EU, whereas they are currently the 23rd highest, placing Slovenia at the bottom of the list of member states with one of the lowest final electricity prices in the EU.
The situation is somewhat different for commercial and industrial consumers; the analysis revealed that final electricity prices in Slovenia were higher compared to the EU average. However, for almost all non-household consumer groups, the average final electricity prices in Slovenia were lower than in neighboring countries.
Comparisons of final electricity prices for non-household consumers in Slovenia with those in the EU and neighboring countries are less favorable, revealing that final prices for commercial and industrial consumers in Slovenia were among the highest in the EU. On the other hand, network charges for commercial consumers in Slovenia were significantly lower than the average network charges paid by commercial consumers in the EU, ranging from 36.5% to 49% lower. This difference is even greater when comparing network charges in Slovenia with those in neighboring countries, where network charges are up to 53% lower. The analysis results thus refute the claims of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS) that network charges are the reason for the lower competitiveness of Slovenian industry, whether under the new or old network charge methodology. On the contrary, the data indicate that low network charges reduce final electricity prices.
In recent months, Slovenian media have popularized the thesis that countries with a higher share of electricity produced from renewable energy sources, particularly solar and wind power plants, also have higher final electricity prices. The author empirically verified this thesis, and the analysis results partially confirm it; in eight countries where the share of electricity from RES exceeds 40% of total electricity production, the average final electricity price is 10.7% higher, indicating a correlation between the share of electricity produced from RES and the level of final electricity prices.
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