The price of imported energy increased by 115% in 2021

The year 2021 imposed exceptional demands on electricity markets around the world. Strong economic growth combined with more extreme weather events than in 2020, including a colder winter, boosted global electricity demand by more than 6%, the largest increase since the recovery from the 2010 financial crisis.

Within one year, December 2020-December 2021, the price of imported energy increased by 115% and the price of energy from domestic production by 73%.

So far there have been no import price increases of more than 30% and domestic production prices have not increased by more than 10% per year in recent years.

Prices rose less strongly in the United States than in Europe, partly due to a smaller increase in natural gas prices. Average prices in the fourth quarter of 2021 were nearly 75% above the 2016-2020 Q4 average.

After a peak related to lack of supply in the first quarter and a subsequent decline in the second quarter of 2021, in Japan prices rose again in the second half of 2021. 2021 prices exceeded the 2016-2020 average by 80%.

Prices in the fourth quarter of 2021 in France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom were three to more than four times higher than the average of the fourth quarter of 2016-2020. This was mainly caused by the steep rise in gas prices, along with increased demand.