Euro-area households pay around twice as much for electricity as energy-intensive industries and Italian families are among those worst affected, the European Central Bank said in its latest economic bulletin on Thursday.

“In France and the Netherlands, households pay approximately 64% and 20% more than energy-intensive industries,” the bulletin said.

“This is even more pronounced in Germany, Spain and Italy, where household electricity prices are around 100% higher”.

It said countries that rely on imported fossil fuels for electricity generation tend to face higher electricity prices, since these are typically more expensive at the margin than nuclear or renewables.

It said differences in national taxes and regulation on network charges also account for considerable cross-country variation in final electricity prices.

The ECB said electricity prices increased by around 53% for energy-intensive industries and by around 33% for households between 2019 and 2024.