Oil-Driven Energy Price Surge Offsets Cheaper Electricity in April

Oil Products Surge

Heating oil saw the most dramatic increases: up 12.6% from March and an enormous 62.6% compared to April 2025. The rise reflects the heavy reliance of heating systems on petroleum products.

Natural gas prices edged up only slightly, by 0.5% month-on-month and 3.8% year-on-year, providing some relief to gas-dependent households.

Natural Gas Edges Up

In contrast, electricity prices dropped by 3.3% compared to March and were 10.2% lower than a year earlier. The decline was mainly caused by high feed-in from photovoltaic and hydropower plants, according to the agency.

Regulatory measures also helped consumers: a reduced grid tariff for midday hours has been in effect since April 1 for the summer half-year, and the electricity tax was lowered this year.

Electricity Gets Cheaper

District heating became 0.1% cheaper than in March, but was still 2.2% more expensive year-on-year. Firewood and wood pellets got cheaper recently compared to the previous month, although pellets remained 28.3% above their year-ago level.

Expert Urges Renewables

Zwieb called for a faster shift to renewable energy and electric applications such as electric cars and heat pumps. "Switching to renewable energy and electric applications helps to reduce our dependency on crude oil imports," he said.

Even if the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, a rapid normalization of crude oil and LNG supply is not expected, the agency warned. Affected logistics and production chains would recover only gradually, meaning high prices could persist.

Energy prices remain a significant driver of general inflation, the Energy Agency noted, adding to the financial strain on households and businesses.