International and sectoral variation in industrial energy prices 1995-2015

Energy price rises for industry are a major political concern. Access to cheap energy is often considered a key factor for the competitiveness of industry. To enable international comparisons, and to foster further empirical research on the impacts of energy price or tax differentials on a wide range of outcomes, such as international trade and investment patterns, we construct sector level energy prices for 12 industrial sectors in 48 countries for the period 1995 to 2015. Our prices are constructed as weighted averages of fuel-specific prices by fuel consumption. We provide guidelines for the use of our energy price data, which is made available for download, as well as a set of stylized facts on major trends and variations, and illustrative applications.