Report

Subsidies and costs of EU energy

A new report presents a hitherto not existing set of data on costs and subsidies across the various generation technologies in the energy sector and across all EU Member States. The interim report published by the European Commission yesterday has been written by Ecofys, with data collection support from KPMG, the Centre for Social and Economic Research (CASE) and CE Delft.

The results show that in 2012, the total value of public interventions in energy (excluding transport) in the EU28 were €122 billion. The study also discusses the order of magnitude of historical interventions in the energy market.

The report also presents estimates on external costs across power generation technologies. These are costs that are not reflected in market prices, such as costs of environmental and health impacts and the impact of climate change. The methods for quantifying external costs come with a high degree of uncertainty, and the report only aims to identify orders of magnitude for external costs. It puts the figure of external costs of the EU’s energy mix in 2012 at between €150 and 310 billion.

Figures on the cost competitiveness of the different power generation technologies are also provided in the report for context. The estimated ranges reflect costs of new power generation without public intervention (levelised costs). The annexes (1-3, 4-5) can be downloaded at: ec.europa.eu
Please find additional details in the Commission’s press release.