Rising energy costs are straining households and businesses across Europe, with wholesale electricity prices in Spain hitting a 2026 record on Monday, surging 182% .
In Poland, the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) now accounts for up to 50% of electricity costs for industrial users and 40% for end consumers, according to Marcin Laskowski, vice president of Polska Grupa Energetyczna. Polish energy executives are lobbying Brussels for exemptions, arguing that the system’s financial burden varies sharply between member states due to differing starting points in their energy transitions .
Romania has seen the sharpest increase in the EU in the share of people unable to adequately heat their homes, rising from 10.8% in 2024 to 11.9% in 2025, Eurostat data shows . In Croatia, inflation hit 4.7% in September, driven largely by a 20% rise in energy prices, pushing nearly 40% of retirees into poverty, according to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. Pensioners’ unions report growing reliance on soup kitchens as utility bills consume larger shares of fixed incomes .
Fuel prices are also climbing in the Baltics, with gasoline and diesel costs rising in Tallinn and Vilnius over the past week, according to a Circle K price comparison . In Sweden, the expiration of temporary tax cuts will push gasoline and diesel prices up by roughly 3 SEK per liter this winter, according to Claes Hemberg, an energy economist at Nibe .
Greece is seeking EU approval to redirect escape clause funds toward targeted energy subsidies for households, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis negotiating flexibility within existing fiscal rules .
