Energy demand in the European Union’s services sector continued to rise in 2024, reflecting the growing power needs of an increasingly digital and customer-oriented economy. According to Eurostat, final energy consumption reached 4,971 petajoules, up from 4,886 petajoules in 2023.
That marks a year-on-year increase of 1.7%. Over the longer term, energy consumption in the sector has grown by 25% since 1990.
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Services Still Trail Transport, Households And Industry
Despite that growth, services accounted for 13.5% of total final energy consumption across the EU in 2024. Transport remained the largest consumer at 32.3%, followed by households at 26.0% and industry at 24.5%.
Only agriculture, forestry and fishing recorded a smaller share, representing 3.6% of final energy consumption.
Electricity And Natural Gas Continue To Dominate
Electricity and natural gas remained the primary energy sources for the services sector, together accounting for more than three-quarters of total consumption.
More than half of all energy use came from electricity (52.0%), while natural gas accounted for a further 25.4%. Renewables and biofuels contributed 8.7%, heat represented 7.7%, and oil and petroleum products 5.6%. The remaining 0.6% came from other sources, including coal and waste.
Wholesale And Retail Trade Tops Energy Use
Wholesale and retail trade remained the largest energy-consuming services subsector in 2024, using 1,021 petajoules, or 21.2% of the sector’s total consumption.
Human health and social work activities followed with 506 petajoules, representing 10.5%, while accommodation and food service activities consumed 503 petajoules, also equal to 10.5%.
Professional, scientific and technical activities, together with other service activities, accounted for the remaining 492 petajoules, or 10.2%.
A Gradual Shift In Energy Demand
Although services are not the EU’s largest energy-consuming sector, their energy footprint continues to expand. Growing reliance on electrification and digital infrastructure across offices, retail, healthcare and hospitality is steadily increasing electricity demand while reinforcing the importance of energy efficiency and a more diversified energy mix.
