ELECTRICITY PRICES UP IN THE EU IN FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2005.

Electricity prices between July 1, 2004 and July 1, 2005 rose by an average of 3% for households and 6.9% for industrial customers, revealed figures just published by Eurostat. For standard household consumers (annual electricity consumption of 3,500 kWh), electricity prices dropped only in Austria, Belgium and Finland and for standard industrial consumers (annual electricity consumption of 2,000 MWh), electricity prices dropped in Slovakia, Poland, Finland, Lithuania and Estonia. The share of taxes for household consumers is lowest in the UK and highest in Denmark at 58.5%. Taxes for industrial consumers are lowest in Sweden, Malta and Portugal and highest in Norway (34.7%), Austria (37.9% and Denmark (40.5%). It should be noted however that in many countries VAT-registered companies may profit from exemptions and/or reimbursements.

Electricity prices (tax included/kWh) for standard household consumers, varied between 6.94...