The 2023 industrial electricity price of 0.12 €/kWh represents a fall of 26 percent against the previous year, after a year of atypically high electricity prices. For most of the past decade, prices have been between 0.12 and 0.13 €/kWh.
The 2023 figure is 48 percent lower than the European Union’s average of 0.23 €/kWh—the biggest gap registered in the past decade. This difference is explained by lower gas prices and the bet on renewable sources of energy. Particularly from 2019, where the deployment of renewables accelerates, Portugal’s increasing advantage in industrial electricity prices is obvious. It is yet to be seen whether Portugal can sustain this extraordinary competitive advantage.
According to Eurostat data, Portugal is close to the European Union in terms of VAT and other recoverable taxes and levies (at 18 percent, one percentage point higher than the European Union).
