The Situation of Households on the Energy Market in the European Union: Consumption, Prices, and Renewable Energy

Abstract

Energy plays a crucial role in the modern world. The acquisition and consumption of energy is unfortunately associated not only with economic development or the facilitation of everyday life, but also with a negative impact on the environment. To prevent these, measures are being taken which are part of a broad programme referred to as sustainable energy development (SED). A special place among energy consumers is occupied by households, as access to energy is a fundamental factor affecting the quality of life. The aim of this paper is to look at and assess the current situation of the household sector in the EU energy market in the context of SED and to point out similarities and differences between EU countries. The analysis considers factors based on SED indicators: final energy consumption per capita, energy prices offered to households, and the share of renewable energy in household energy consumption. The k-means method was used as a research tool. The results obtained indicate first of all that the EU countries are highly differentiated in terms of the analysed factors. It can be said that these differences result not only from the wealth of a given country, geographical location, or natural possibilities to use renewable energy sources, but mainly from the energy policies implemented in individual countries.