In Italy we pay the highest electricity prices in Europe. The photograph was taken by the European Commission and tells us about an average cost which in Europe is 85 euros per megawatt hour, while in Italy it is 116 euros per megawatt hour. According to the Commission, to lower the cost of electricity we need to focus on energy saving, renewable energy and the diversification of supply sources.
But why does energy cost so much in Italy? Also in this case the answer came to us from the European Commission, which analyzes the data of the last four years since the implementation of RePowerEu. The reply is that Italy depends on natural gas and, moreover, is inflexible in terms of non-fossil sources.
The price of electricity in Europe
The European Commission has published a report on the cost of energy in Europe. He takes a snapshot of it four years after the implementation of RePowerEu, the plan that aimed to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy imports.
What emerges is the need, even more accentuated with the current ongoing energy crisis, to focus on energy saving, on accelerating the spread of renewable energy (which alone is not enough) and on the diversification of supply sources.
Using the numbers to help us understand how much electricity costs in Italy compared to Europe, just look at the European average. The numbers tell us that:
- in Europe electricity costs on average 85 euros per megawatt hour;
- in Italy the average wholesale electricity price in 2025 was 116 euros per megawatt hour.
Why does electricity cost us so much?
The Commission also explains why Italy ends up paying the highest amount in Europe, i.e. its dependence on natural gas for electricity production. But not only that: Italy also seems to be inflexible in terms of non-fossil sources and interconnection capacity.
All elements which, in light of the international energy crisis, worsen the cost situation.
In Italy, fossil fuels accounted for 52.3% of 2025 electricity production, the fifth highest share of fossil fuels in the energy mix of a European Union country.
In other words, fossil fuels represent the dominant technology for the production of electricity in Italy and this determines the highest prices.
The reason why they increased so much during 2025 is due precisely to the increase in the cost of supplying natural gas and the limited production from renewable sources, just as Pedro Sanchez had already indicated at the beginning of the crisis.
Italy is a vulnerable country
The Commission’s report also highlights something else, namely that daytime costs have decreased over the years due to the growing integration of solar energy, but that Italy still remains more vulnerable to price surges during peak hours.
The reason is also simple to understand: the decrease in solar production in the evening and night hours, combined with the limited flexibility of non-fossil sources, forces thermoelectric power plants to increase production to fill the gap between supply and demand.
Always referring to the numbers to understand the phenomenon: in 2025 the price differentials in Italy stood at an average of 46 euros per megawatt hour, down 36% compared to 2024, a value still higher than the EU average of 12.1 euros per megawatt hour.
