European small businesses currently pay two to three times more for electricity and four to five times more for gas than their competitors.

Omissions

• The sources measure EU industrial and wholesale energy prices versus the US and China; the claim refers specifically to small businesses (SMEs), whose retail prices are not the metric published in these sources.
• The claim does not identify the 'competitors' used as the benchmark; the corroborating data compares the EU mainly to the US (and, for electricity, China), which are the EU's lowest-cost energy competitors.
• Gas comparisons are largely based on wholesale prices (Bruegel: 'nearly five times those in the US'), while electricity comparisons are based on industrial prices; the two multiples in the claim therefore rest on different price segments.
• The European Commission's own report frames the gap as a range of '2-4 times higher', which overlaps but does not exactly match the claim's split of 2-3x for electricity and 4-5x for gas.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropean Commission — Report on energy prices and costs in Europe (EUR-Lex CELEX:52025DC0072)Similarly, industrial gas and electricity prices, while lower than during the crisis, are still 2-4 times higher than in the EU's main [competitors].
• SecondaryBruegel — Decarbonising for competitiveness: four ways to reduce European energy prices (Policy Brief 32/2024)In 2024, EU gas wholesale prices were on average nearly five times those in the US. Average EU industrial electricity prices were roughly two and a half times higher [than in the US].
• SecondaryBusinessEurope — Data Hub: High cost of energyIn 2024, industrial electricity prices in the EU reached €0.199 per kWh, compared to €0.082 in China and €0.075 in the U.S.
• SecondaryEurelectric — US vs EU: the ultimate power prices showdownEurope's lack of natural gas resources and reliance on imports makes gas three to five times more expensive than in the US.