EU household gas 10.2% cheaper – Bulgaria records the biggest drop
In the first half of 2026, EU households paid an average of 0.11 euros per kilowatt-hour of gas, Eurostat data show. In Bulgaria, the price fell 14.5% within a year.
Symbolic image · Photo: Ivan Radic / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Natural gas for households in the EU became cheaper in the first half of 2026. The average price was 0.11 euros per kilowatt-hour – 10.2% less than in the second half of 2025 and 3.5% less than a year earlier, according to Eurostat data reported by news agency BTA. This is the lowest average since the first half of 2022. According to Eurostat, seasonal fluctuations have returned to the pattern seen before the 2022 energy crisis.
Bulgaria recorded the steepest year-on-year fall in the EU – 14.5% in national currency – to 0.0654 euros per kilowatt-hour. It was followed by Greece (minus 11.3%) and Spain (minus 10%). Overall, prices fell in 12 countries, rose in seven and were roughly stable in four. The biggest increases were in Romania (9.3%), Croatia (8.9%) and Slovakia (6.6%).
Gas is most expensive in Sweden at 0.22 euros per kilowatt-hour, followed by the Netherlands (0.16) and France and Portugal (0.13 each). It is cheapest in Hungary (0.03), Croatia (0.05), Romania and Slovakia (0.06 each).