Efficiency of Electricity Utilisation in Households in the Context of European Energy Policy

Efficient use of electricity in every sector of a national economy is becoming increasingly significant. Energy efficiency concerns climate and energy policy, but it is also a significant factor influencing manufacturing costs for enterprises (and thus their profits), as well as socio-economic development. Irrational energy consumption leads to excessive consumption of primary energy sources, problems attributable to environment pollution, and limited competitiveness of national companies in global markets. For an individual consumer, energy efficiency is one of the key methods of reducing the share of electricity costs in the household budget. In recent years, the European Commission has made a lot of effort aimed at reducing electricity consumption in households, by promoting energy-saving lighting, subsidising renewable microgeneration systems, enforcing labelling appliances for their energy consumption and liberalisation of the electricity market, among other things. This paper presents the results of a comparative study on electricity consumption in Polish households in reference to selected European Union member states, in the context of European energy policy.