**Electricity Remains Dominant Power Source for EU Services Sector**
According to the latest data from Eurostat, energy consumption in the European Union's services sector reached 4,971 petajoules in 2024. This figure reflects a modest increase from the 4,886 petajoules recorded in 2023, marking a year-on-year growth of 1.7%. Over a longer historical perspective, energy usage in this sector has surged by 25% since 1990.
Despite this growth, the services sector accounted for only 13.5% of the EU's total final energy consumption in 2024. This share remains significantly lower than that of other sectors, such as transportation, which consumed 32.3%, households at 26.0%, and the industrial sector at 24.5%. The services sector's energy consumption was only greater than that of agriculture, forestry, and fishing, which accounted for 3.6%.
Electricity and natural gas are the primary energy sources for the services sector, together making up over three-quarters of the sector's final energy consumption. Specifically, electricity constituted 52.0% of the total energy used, while natural gas contributed 25.4%. Renewable energy sources and biofuels accounted for 8.7%, with heat making up 7.7% and oil and petroleum products representing 5.6%. The remaining 0.6% was attributed to other energy products, including coal and waste.
Within the various sub-sectors of the services industry, the wholesale and retail trade emerged as the largest consumer of energy in 2024, utilizing 1,021 petajoules. This consumption represented 21.2% of the total energy used by the services sector. Following closely were human health and social work activities, which consumed 506 petajoules, or 10.5% of the total. Accommodation and food service activities mirrored this consumption level, also accounting for 10.5% with 503 petajoules. The remaining consumption was attributed to professional, scientific, and technical activities, along with miscellaneous services, which collectively accounted for 492 petajoules, or 10.2% of the total energy consumption in the sector.
The data highlights the ongoing reliance on traditional energy sources like electricity and natural gas within the EU services sector, even as renewable energy sources slowly gain traction. The increase in overall energy consumption reflects not only economic growth but also the evolving energy demands of various service sub-sectors. As the EU continues to pursue its climate goals, the challenge remains to increase the share of renewables in energy consumption while managing the growing energy needs of the services sector.