Reduced market share for largest natural gas company in 11 EU countries
Natural gas industry - Photo by Loic Manegarium on Pexels
(LUXEMBOURG) - The largest electricity and gas producers experienced a decrease in market share in many EU countries in 2022, as competition in the energy market increased compared with 2021, Eurostat reports.
A market share indicator shows the proportion of the market's energy that is provided by the largest company of the network. Larger market shares indicate a monopolistic or oligopolistic market.
According to the EU's statistics agency, between 2021 and 2022, increases of the market share of the largest electricity company were reported by 4 EU countries. In 4 countries, the share remained stable, while decrease was reported by 16 countries. The decreasing market share indicates a growing competition and diversification of the energy market.
Between 2021 and 2022, the largest market share increase was reported in Slovakia (+6.7 percentage points (pp)), while the largest decrease was in France (-6.5 pp).
In 2022, the market share of the largest electricity producer in the electricity market varied across EU countries. The largest share was recorded in Cyprus (87.5%), followed by Croatia (73.6%) and France (72.5%).
In contrast, the market share of the largest producer in the electricity market was the lowest in Lithuania (12.0%), Poland (14.9%) and Italy (18.0%).
In 2022, the market share of the largest natural gas importer and producer decreased in 11 EU countries (out of 22 reporting EU countries).
Between 2021 and 2022, the largest market share decrease was reported in Lithuania (-29.8 pp), Bulgaria (-14.5 pp) and in France (-11.5 pp). Conversely, an annual increase of the largest market share was reported for Slovakia (+11.0 pp) and Croatia (+5.4 pp).
The largest market share was 100% in Malta and Sweden, where one single entity dominated national production and imports, followed by Poland with 92.0%.
By contrast, the largest natural gas import and production company had the lowest level of market penetration in Ireland (22.0%), Czechia (30.0%) and Greece (30.5%).
Statistics Explained article on electricity market indicators, Eurostat
Statistics Explained article on natural gas market indicators