Lisbon, Sept. 10, 2026 (Lusa) - Eight out of ten Portuguese people are concerned about energy prices, and 77% are worried about fuel costs – a concern that leads more than a third of Europeans to cut back on essential expenditure in order to afford energy and transport.
Energy poverty emerges as one of the key dimensions of economic hardship in the 20th edition of the Barometer on Poverty and Economic Hardship, produced by ‘Secours Populaire Français', which devoted a specific chapter to the impact of energy and fuel costs.
Across the 10 countries analysed, 75% of Europeans consider their energy bills to be high, including 20% who rate them as «very high» . In Portugal, 68% consider these costs to be high – below the European average – but 85% say they are concerned about the cost of their electricity and gas bills.
Concern is particularly high in Moldova, where it stands at 95%, followed by Greece (92%), Italy (89%), Romania and Serbia (88%). In France, 86% of respondents say they are concerned about the amount of their energy bills.
Fuel costs also weigh heavily on household budgets. In Portugal, 77% express concern about the amount spent on petrol or diesel, one of the highest percentages among the countries studied and above the European average of 73%.
Concern about fuel costs is even higher in Greece (84%) and Italy (82%), whilst Serbia, France and Romania recorded 75%, 74% and 72% respectively. In the United Kingdom, 63% say they are concerned, and in Germany the figure is 64%.
The burden of these costs is forcing many households to choose between energy and other necessities. More than one in three Europeans (38%) say they have, frequently or occasionally, cut back on essential expenses, such as food or healthcare, in order to pay their energy bills over the last 12 months.
In Portugal, 28% of respondents report this situation, whilst in Moldova the figure rises to 68% and in Greece to 62%. Romania stands at 44%, Italy at 33% and France at 26%. At the opposite end of the scale are the UK (25%) and Germany (23%).
Fuel costs have also forced 34% of Europeans to cut back on other important expenses. In Portugal, the figure stands at 30%, whilst in Moldova it reaches 59%, in Greece 55% and in Romania 40%. France records 28%, Italy 30% and Germany 22%.
To reduce their energy bills, 68% of Europeans say they have taken at least one measure in the past year, and 53% say they have used several strategies.
The most common measure is to switch off the heating in some rooms of the house, a practice mentioned by 52% of Europeans. This is followed by voluntarily limiting the temperature in the home to below 18 degrees, cited by 41% of Europeans, and stopping the use of certain household appliances, such as the oven or washing machine, also mentioned by 41% of Europeans.
In Portugal, switching off the heating in some rooms is mentioned by 57% of respondents, whilst 38% say they have limited the temperature in their home to below 18 degrees and 40% have stopped using certain appliances. Other strategies include taking fewer showers or cold showers, cited by 33%.
On the other hand, 74% of European parents who were unable to maintain a sufficiently warm or cool temperature report at least one negative consequence for their child, with 64% citing several, whether in terms of rest or the ability to concentrate – something that was particularly felt by Greek, Moldovan and Portuguese parents.
The perception of a decline in access to energy is also widespread: seven out of ten Europeans believe that access to energy at affordable prices is worse today than it was for their parents' generation.
The study surveyed 10,000 people, 1,000 in each of 10 countries — France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, Moldova, Portugal, Romania and Serbia — with interviews conducted online between 26 May and 6 July 2025.
The sample is representative of the national populations aged 18 or more and was constructed using quotas based on gender, age, occupation, region and city category.
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