Eurostat said 8.8% of EU residents could not afford adequate warmth at home in 2025, as energy ministers left a power-bill overhaul open with a general approach targeted for December.
The rate was down from 9.2% in 2024. For that year, the European Commission’s Energy Poverty Advisory Hub estimated that 41.3 million people could not afford sufficient warmth at home. Eurostat’s latest release gives a rate for 2025 but no matching population count.
Ministers discussed the Commission’s July 17 proposal. It would change how grid charges are designed and require electricity excise tax to be no higher than tax on natural gas. The proposal does not itself require governments to raise gas taxes. Network charges made up an average 24% to 29% of household electricity bills in recent years, according to the proposal.
The Council of the European Union said ministers broadly backed reducing electricity-system costs but sought more national flexibility in tariff design. The proposal is intended to benefit electricity users, including households, though the Commission has not established the amount or timing of any savings.
For vulnerable households, the Commission recommends targeted, temporary income support, energy vouchers and lower electricity excise duties. Its guidance also points to social bonuses, loans and energy-efficiency grants from national or local authorities, as well as advance notice before disconnection.
The European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) put EU gas storage at 75% on Oct. 21, below its nine-year average, and reported hub prices near €90 per megawatt-hour in mid-October. ACER attributed tighter market conditions to Middle East conflict-related LNG disruptions, low storage after winter 2025-26, slow refilling and competition with Asia for flexible cargoes. It estimated the conflict added €18 billion to €33 billion to the EU’s gas import bill for an equivalent quantity of gas, with costs affecting households and industry.
ACER estimated that refilling EU storage in 2026 could cost up to €27 billion, compared with about €100 billion during the 2022 energy crisis. It also said the average cost of gas injected in 2026 was the second highest in a decade. The Council is aiming for a general approach at the December Energy Council; ministers reached no final agreement in October.
