Electricity: Italia pays almost twice as much as France and Spain – its dependence on gas is a major factor
The contrast with the other major European countries is striking: France stands at 61.1 €/MWh, Spain at 65.3
by Lorenzo Pace
Key points
In 2025, the Single National Electricity Price – that is, the PUN, the wholesale price of electricity – averaged 115.9 €/MWh, up 7% on 2024 and the highest among the major European power exchanges. This was reiterated by the chairman of ARERA during the presentation of the Annual Report to Parliament.
More than double that of France and Spain
The contrast with other major European countries is stark: France stands at 61.1 €/MWh, and Spain at 65.3. The reason, explains Dell’Acqua, is the Italia electricity system’s heavy reliance on gas-fired generation, which remains the main determinant of the wholesale price despite the renewables now account for 48 per cent of national generation.
Utility bill prices
The impact on consumers is direct: although the final price of electricity for households is set to fall by 1.6% in 2025 (to 35.12 c€/kWh), it remains 13% above the euro area average, with a differential of 4.03 c€/kWh resulting almost exclusively from the energy component, which is 5.68 c€/kWh higher than the European average.
As at 1 January 2026, a vulnerable domestic customer on the ‘maggiore tutela’ tariff pays 25.2 c€/kWh excluding tax (27.97 including tax); for the Gradual Protection Scheme, the price falls to 22.8 c€/kWh (25.3 including tax). Both remain, however, more affordable than the open market, which in 2025 will have higher prices than the protected schemes for all domestic consumption categories.
The cost is also taking its toll on businesses
Non-domestic customers also pay some of the highest prices in Europe. In 2025, the price of electricity for businesses will fall by just 1 per cent (to 26.25 c€/kWh), a much smaller decrease than in other major countries; in fact, the energy component will rise by 2 per cent – the only such case among the countries analysed – whilst in the euro area it will fall by 9.1 per cent.
