Coal’s share of European Union electricity production has fallen to 9.2 per cent, its lowest level since at least 1990, according to new Eurostat figures on the bloc’s power mix.
Hard coal accounted for 3.7 per cent of gross electricity production in 2025, or 105,601 gigawatt hours (GWh), while brown coal supplied 5.5 per cent, equivalent to 154,186 GWh. The combined share slipped below 10 per cent for the first time in 2024 and fell further in 2025.
Coal generated more than a third of all EU electricity in 1990 and 30.4 per cent in 2000. It has retreated almost continuously since, interrupted only by brief rebounds in 2011-2012 and 2021-2022.
The two fuels were the second and third largest sources of EU power in 1990, at 19.8 per cent and 15.3 per cent respectively. In 2025 hard coal ranked seventh and brown coal sixth, behind nuclear heat, natural gas and renewable fuels.
Nuclear heat overtook both types of coal in 1994 and natural gas did so in 2019. Hydro and wind moved ahead in 2023 and solar followed in 2024.
Consumption has hit new lows alongside generation. Eurostat estimates EU use of hard coal at 107 million tonnes in 2025 and brown coal at 184 million tonnes, both record lows.
Several member states have already stepped back from the fuel. Portugal stopped burning hard coal for electricity in 2021 and Slovakia ended brown coal production in 2024, leaving eight EU countries still mining it.
The retreat has not translated into cheaper power. Household electricity across the EU averaged €28.96 per 100 kWh in the second half of 2025, a slight rise on the €28.79 of the first half and still well above pre-2022 levels.
Taxes and levies made up 28.9 per cent of the average bill, up from 27.9 per cent six months earlier. Pre-tax prices edged down over the same period though the fall was more than cancelled out by higher taxation.
The gap between member states remains wide. Irish households paid the most at €40.42 per 100 kWh, ahead of Germany on €38.69 and Belgium on €34.99, while Hungary recorded the lowest price at €10.82.
German bills carry rising network charges. The levy covering offshore wind connections climbed to 0.816 euro cents per kWh in 2025 from 0.656 cents, while the StromNEV network levy more than doubled to 1.558 cents, on top of a renewables build-out that has left the country generating less electricity than it did in 2000.
Romanian households saw the sharpest increase, with prices up 58.6 per cent on the second half of 2024, ahead of Austria on 34.3 per cent and Ireland on 32.7 per cent. Eurostat put those rises down mainly to network costs and to the withdrawal of subsidies.
