Energy use in EU households in 2022 lowest since 2016

In 2022, EU households used 10.1 million terajoules of energy, the lowest amount recorded since 2016.

The 2022 figure means that there was a decrease of 7.7% from the 11 terajoules recorded in 2021. 

Households, or the residential sector, represented 25.8% of final energy consumption or 18.1% of gross inland energy consumption in the EU in 2022. Most of the EU’s final energy consumption in households was covered by natural gas (30.9%), electricity (25.1%) and renewables and biofuels (22.6%). 

In the EU, the main use of energy by households is for heating homes (63.5% of the final energy consumption in the residential sector), followed by water heating (14.9%). The heating of space and water consequently represented 78.4% of the final energy consumed by households in 2022.

Lighting and most electrical appliances represent 13.9% (this excludes the use of electricity for powering the main heating, cooling, or cooking systems). Other end use (0.9%) and space cooling (0.6%) had the lowest share.