Non-household electricity prices in the European Union fell again in the first half of 2026, according to a data release Eurostat published on 4 November. The EU average reached €0.18 per kWh for business and industrial users, which is 2.0% below the second half of 2025 and 5.4% below the first half of 2025. Eurostat says the decline continues the downward trend of the previous year.

The figure covers non-household consumers with annual consumption between 500 MWh and 2,000 MWh, a mid-sized band that includes manufacturers, logistics hubs and larger commercial buildings. That scope matters, because the biggest industrial users negotiate separate contracts and small shops pay different rates. Readers should therefore treat the €0.18 average as a benchmark for mid-sized firms rather than for every business.

The spread between member states remains wide. Ireland recorded the highest non-household electricity prices at €0.27 per kWh, ahead of Cyprus and Italy at €0.23 each. At the other end, Finland paid €0.09, Sweden €0.12, and Denmark, Spain and Portugal €0.13 each. A mid-sized Irish business therefore paid roughly three times what its Finnish counterpart paid for the same kilowatt-hour.

The direction of travel is more mixed than the headline suggests. Compared with the first half of 2025, non-household electricity prices fell in 19 member states and rose in eight. Luxembourg posted the steepest drop at 23.8%, followed by Czechia at 11.9% and Greece at 11.8%. Sweden, Finland and Bulgaria moved the other way, with increases of 18.8%, 18.7% and 14.2% respectively. Eurostat calculates these changes in national currencies, so exchange-rate movements do not distort them.

The Nordic result deserves attention. Finland and Sweden still have some of the lowest non-household electricity prices in the Union, yet they recorded the two largest increases after Bulgaria. Eurostat’s release does not explain why, and the energy price dataset it cites does not break the movement down into energy, network charges and taxes. Starting from a low base, even a modest absolute rise produces a large percentage jump, which is one plausible reading, though not one the agency confirms.

The release arrives alongside other energy price data. Eurostat published a related note on 4 November showing that non-household gas prices fell by 6.7% on the year, and it released figures on household electricity and gas on 30 October. Together, the publications suggest that the 2022 energy price shock continues to fade for European buyers, even if the relief is uneven across borders and customer groups.

For policymakers, the numbers feed directly into the competitiveness debate. Commission officials and industry groups often point to energy costs when they argue that European manufacturers face a disadvantage against competitors in the United States and Asia. A 5.4% annual fall in non-household electricity prices helps that argument only partly, because a €0.18 average still leaves large gaps between Dublin and Helsinki, and those gaps shape where firms decide to invest.

Readers who want to track the story should watch the second-half 2026 data, which Eurostat normally publishes in spring 2027. That release will show whether non-household electricity prices keep falling, and whether the Nordic increases were a one-off correction or the start of a longer trend. Until then, the first-half figures give the clearest picture of what European businesses actually pay for power.