By comparison, the leader this year on the continent was Iceland with 15.856 tne. Also at the top of the ranking are Finland (5.68), Russia (5.6), Norway (4.63) and Sweden (4.33).
It can be noted that the top five are northern countries with cold winters. However, there are also states with quite high indicators in Central Europe. For example, Germany (3.24), Belgium (4.88), France (3.1), Slovakia (3.09) and Austria (3.47).
These are countries with developed industry and good energy efficiency technologies.
Our neighbors have the following indicators: Romania – 1.66 ttoe, Ukraine – 1.49 ttoe.
“The fact that Moldova has low energy consumption per inhabitant does not mean that we have well developed energy efficient technologies. The figure shows that there is almost no industry in the country – approximately 50% of energy consumption is in the residential sector,” states Eugen Muravski, energy expert of the WatchDog project.
He believes that a much more relevant indicator is energy consumption per one unit of GDP. And here we have figures twice as high as in Romania and other EU states.
“The “Iceland phenomenon” is most likely due to the fact that energy prices are relatively low there, which makes it possible not to introduce energy-saving technologies. The cost of electricity in Iceland for households is about 25,756 ISK (approximately $0.20 or 3.35 Moldovan lei) per kWh, and for businesses – 12,470 ISK (approximately $0.10 or 1.68 lei) per kWh (data for March 2025).
The situation is roughly the same in Russia. There it varies for industrial enterprises depending on the region, volume of consumption and other factors, but on average it can range from 3.5 to 9.96 rubles/kWh (0.76-2.15 lei) excluding VAT for 2025. For citizens (without electric stoves, for September 2025) – 6.99-7.87 rubles (1.53-1.72 lei/kWh).
For comparison, in Germany, electricity costs 0.17 euro cents (3.34 lei) for enterprises and 33-37 euro cents (6.48-7.27 lei) for citizens.
It should be reminded that as of August 1, 2025, the electricity tariff in Moldova for Premier Energy household consumers is 3.59 lei per kWh, and for FEE Nord consumers – 4 lei per kWh. For legal entities 4.32 and 4.89 lei, respectively.
It should be noted that in all the above mentioned countries, except Moldova, electricity for business is about twice cheaper than for household consumers. And only in our country it is cheaper for citizens than for industrial enterprises. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the cost of Moldovan production is higher than that of competitors in neighboring countries. And that industry is not developing in the country.
Other energy carriers (gas, central heating, etc.) cost about the same proportions in our and the above-mentioned countries.
