The prices of electricity and gas have broken records in the European Union in the second half of 2022. According to data released this Wednesday by Eurostat, when the price of electricity jumped from 23.5 euros per 100 killowatt hours (kWh) in the second half of 2021 to 28.4 euros per 100 kWh in the last six months of last year, average gas prices in the European Union rose from 7.8 euros per 100 kWh to 11.4 euros per 100 kWh in the same period.

"These prices are the highest on record at Eurostat," reads the bulletin released by the European statistics office. Between countries, the increases were widespread.

In Portugal, according to Eurostat, gas prices shot up 65% in the second half of last year compared to the second half of 2021. Even so, it is an increase that is far from the rises seen in countries like Czechia, which saw a 231% increase, Romania (165%), Latvia (157%) and Lithuania (112%).

In euros, average gas prices for households in the second half of 2022 were lowest in Hungary (€3.5 per 100 kWh), Croatia (€4.5) and Slovakia (€4.9) and highest in Sweden (€27.5), Denmark (€20.8) and the Netherlands (€19.3).

In the electricity market, Portugal is among the European Union countries with the lowest price increase between the second half of 2021 and the second half of 2022: according to Eurostat, electricity prices increased by only 2.4% between the second half of 2021 and the second half of 2022.

With a lower price evolution than Portugal only Malta and the Netherlands, which recorded a correction in electricity prices of 3.1% and 6.8%, respectively. The biggest increases in electricity prices were in Romania (+112%), in Czechia (+96.5%) and in Denmark (+70.3%).

In euros, average household electricity prices in the second half of 2022 were lowest in Hungary (10.8 euros per 100 kWh), Bulgaria (11.5 euros) and Malta (12.8 euros). In the opposite direction are prices in Denmark (€58.7), Belgium (€44.9) and Ireland (€42.0).