§ Mr. Proctorasked the Secretary of State for Energy if, pursuant to his reply, Official Report, 27 June, c. 365, he will seek to obtain more up-to-date information on comparative fuel prices within the European Economic Community than that published by him in the Official Report; and if he will publish any more recent figures for individual countries of the European Economic Community which he has available.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[pursuant to his reply, 7 July 1980, c. 45]: The figures given in my previous reply—[Vol. 987, c. 365]—are the most up-to-date published information on all fuels in each European Economic Community country.
A recent unpublished report from the Commission gives fuel prices for typical domestic and industrial consumers at 1 January 1979 and 1 January 1980. The following table shows figures for the later date except in the case of electricity, where only those for the earlier date are provided.
The difficulties encountered in international price comparisons noted in my previous reply apply equally to the figures presented here. In addition, in the following table it is unlikely that the same method of estimating prices has been used in each country—for example, some prices are based upon tariffs while others result from surveys of actual prices paid by consumers. We are considering whether any steps can be taken to provide soundly based, more up-to-date information.
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CONSUMER FUEL PRICES IN EEC COUNTRIES (After Tax, 1 January 1980)* EUA Domestic Industrial Country Premium Gasoline Domestic Heating Oil Coal pithead Natural Gas Electricity* Heavy Fuel Oil Industrial Industrial Steam Coal Electricity (per 1,000 litres) (per 1,000 litres) (per ton) (per Gigajoule) (per 100 Kwh) (per tonne) (per tonne)† (per 100 Kwh) Belgium 531 230 129 4.95 7.97 119 80 5.06 Denmark 509 285 N.A. 11.42 5.35 172 28 4.09 Germany 431 255 125 N.A. 8.09 136 83 4.96 France 565 244 136 5.95 6.36 139 80 4.34 Ireland 400 201 N.A. N.A. 3.51 156 N.A. 3.10 Italy 566 245 N.A. N.A. 5.99 134 29 3.71 Netherlands 492 231 N.A. 3.80 6.80 120 38 4.92 United Kingdom 408 201 79 2.69 4.30 136 53 3.10 * Prices for Electricity are as at 1 January 1979. † At pithead or cif at port of entry.