Ljubljana - Electricity generated in Slovenia met 74.4% of the country's needs in the first half of the year, down 12 percentage points from the same period in last year for what had been the lowest consumption-generation rate in the last 10 years, the latest data from the Infrastructure Ministry show.

The country consumed 7,075 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity, while 5,267 GWh were produced in Slovenia, which is 14% less than in the same period 2021.

The total production figure includes only half of all power generated by the Krško Nuclear Plant (NEK) as half goes to the plant's co-owner Croatia.

As many as 11,527 GWh were sent into the electricity system, 59% of which was generated in Slovenia (6,753 GWh) and 41% imported (4,774 GWh).

The Krško N-plant's total output amounted to 2,971 GWh, up a quarter from the same period last year, mostly as a result of last year's overhaul.

Electricity from hydropower stations in the transmission system meanwhile dropped by 45% to 1,467 GWh due to low water levels, and electricity from thermal power stations increased by 10% to 1,798 GWh.

Net use of electricity reached 6,661 GWh or 57.8% of gross use, while exports amounted to 4,452 GWh or 38.6% of gross use.

Households used 1.837.5 GWh of electricity, down 3.5%, with losses in the transmission and distribution systems down by 2% to 414 GWh.

On the retail market, the largest three companies had a combined 49.4% market share, down 0.6 of a point from 2021.

Their combined share on the household segment reached 62.3% and on the non-household segment 46.1%.

As the energy crisis intensified, the first half of the year saw five retailers stop providing electricity to end-users, leaving the market with 19 providers in June, of which 12 provided electricity to households.

The largest share on the entire retail segment was commanded by GEN-I (20.6%), with its share for households at 34% and non-households at 15.6%.

The company was followed by ECE (15.2%) and Petrol (13.7%), which compared to last year, switched places.

Data from the Infrastructure Ministry shows the retail price of electricity per average household in the second half of the year was EUR 157 per megawatt hour (MWh), an increase of 35% from the first quarter. Year-on-year, it dropped by 5% due to government measures in force from 1 February and 30 April.

The cost per average non-household consumer was EUR 198 per MWh, which marks an increase of 8% from the first quarter and a hike of 83% compared with the second quarter of 2021.