Energy prices and costs in Europe 2018

This report represents one of the key contributions to the biennial report on energy costs and prices that the European Commission is committed to provide. This work builds upon and expands the coverage of the two previous editions of the report carried out in 2014 and 2016. In comparison, this report updates the analysis to include the latest data, and: - updates and extends the analysis of international energy prices and their evolution and drivers –adding many more prices and wider coverage (including the whole G20); - updates and extends the analysis of how energy costs influence industrial competitiveness – including through expanding the countries covered (G20), the sectors covered (from 15 to more than 30) and using decomposition analysis to deepen insight into the drivers of impacts; - provides new insights on the impact of price regulation – not included in previous work; and - updates and expands the analysis on the evolution of energy subsidies, also covering subsidies to energy products used in transport and agriculture, and providing new econometric analysis of the impact of subsidies on energy prices and costs.