Credit: STATEC
In its latest publication, STATEC reported that households in Luxembourg spent over €4,000 on average per year on energy bills in 2017.
According to the report, household energy bills in the Grand Duchy averaged around €4,020 per year (or €335 per month), split equally between energy for housing and fuel for private transport. This amount is almost equivalent to that paid in 2007 (€4,050). The average cost of energy products was around €1,600 per year (or €133 per month) for households that did not consume fuel (37%).
Household energy expenditure depended on price fluctuations, but the type of heating (natural gas, oil or 100% electric), the type of housing (house or apartment), its location (urban or rural area) and household composition (single person, couple, children) also played an important role in the cost of energy bills.
By observing the evolution of household expenditure over the period from 2007 to 2017, with 2007 being the reference point, STATEC found that energy expenditure recorded two peaks (in 2008 and 2013) followed by two periods of decline (in 2009 and 2014-2016). The first drop was an immediate response to the economic crisis, while the second was more the result of an underlying trend in the price of energy products.
More specifically, households using heating oil were more affected by price fluctuations than those using natural gas. According to the report, the significant fluctuation in oil prices and its higher cost per recovered heat likely explained the decline of this heating system: in 2007, 50% of households used heating oil; by 2017, this figure had dropped to 27%.
In addition, the cost of maintaining and heating a house was generally higher than that of an apartment. In 2017, households living in a house spent on average €2,356 per year on energy for their home compared to €1,310 per year for households living in an apartment or studio. On average, residential energy expenditure decreased in single-family homes and apartments between 2007 and 2017. However, energy bills for oil-heated housing increased between these years.
The area of residence also revealed an energy disparity between urban and rural households. STATEC suggested that this disparity was due to the fact that the latter have larger dwellings, on average, and that they represent the majority of houses in Luxembourg. That being said, regardless of the inhabited area, all households saw their residential energy expenditure decrease on average between 2007 and 2017.
The size of the household particularly influenced energy expenditure, especially electricity bills. Single-person households spent an average of €500 per year on electricity; this amount was multiplied by 1.5 for couples and by 2.2 for large households (with three or more adults). For households using natural gas, two adults spent on average €344 per year more than a single person. This amount increased to €508 per year for large households.
