Greek industry continues to face the highest energy costs among 24 European countries, a factor that, alongside other obstacles such as access to finance and weaknesses in public administration, adds to the pressure of competition.
The €95 million support package announced by the Prime Minister a month ago is undoubtedly a positive step. However, the problem has not been resolved, as energy-intensive businesses will not start to see the benefits until next year.
As a result, seven out of 10 Greek businesses (72%) consider energy prices the biggest obstacle to new investment, directly undermining their competitiveness and market position, particularly if they operate in international markets. The average across Europe is 37%, meaning the Greek figure is twice as high.
These are among the findings of the structural competitiveness index compiled by the Federation of Industries of Greece (SBE), which represents manufacturing businesses in Greece’s regions. The findings will be presented today at a special event and cover a wide range of factors, from access to finance and bureaucracy to the circular economy.
Although the data, drawn from Eurostat, the EIB and businesses’ own responses to questionnaires, relate to energy costs in 2025 and therefore do not include recent government initiatives or subsidies for electricity prices through state aid under European schemes (CISAF, METSAF), they nevertheless point to a trend.
Indicators of the shortfall
Looking at the overall picture, among 24 countries — excluding Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg, where manufacturing accounts for a very small share of GDP — Greece ranks last on energy costs, SBE Managing Director Vicky Loizou said yesterday, speaking at the annual “Energy & Development” conference organised by the Institute of Energy for South-East Europe (IENE).
In both the “energy costs and competitiveness” category and “energy security and efficiency”, Greece lags many other countries. Both categories make up the “Energy Environment and Grid Reliability” index.
The worst performance among the 24
Significantly, the gap with comparable businesses is not confined to energy costs but also extends to the quality of domestic electricity infrastructure, which is not meeting new energy requirements, according to industry itself.
“The situation cannot be addressed with stopgap solutions and isolated ad hoc measures. The crisis we are going through makes that clear. What is needed is a targeted industrial policy with permanent, structural solutions, combining cost relief with financing tools for storage, electrification and grid upgrades, so that the government in office during the next crisis does not have to step in to support us,” Ms Loizou said.
A long-term strategy
In essence, people in the sector say the goal is not simply to provide emergency financial support, but to develop a stable, long-term strategy based on permanent structural measures rather than temporary ones, in order to secure the conditions for the sustainability and competitiveness of domestic production.
The latest report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on electrification (Electrification Report), presented at the IENE conference by the agency’s analyst, Apostolos Petropoulos, also highlights the scale of the problem internationally. The report was drawn up in September, when the energy crisis was in full swing.
One of the main goals is to increase electricity’s share of global final energy consumption to 35% by 2035, from about 23% today, as part of the ambitions associated with COP31.
At the same time, the report focuses on the stark energy cost gap between Europe and its two biggest international competitors, the US and China. In particular, energy costs in Europe are more than twice as high as in the US and 60% higher than in China.
The gap takes on even greater significance given that renewable energy sources (RES) accounted for 49.9% of the EU’s gross electricity consumption in 2025.