A Commission staff working document published on 17 July 2026 summarises stakeholder feedback on the Electrification Action Plan, revealing broad support for accelerating electrification but strong emphasis on addressing high upfront costs, grid capacity constraints, and permitting bottlenecks. The synopsis report, based on 320 open public consultation responses and 177 call for evidence contributions, identifies business associations and companies as the largest respondent groups.
The consultation, conducted in 2025, shows that decarbonisation (89 mentions) and competitiveness (88) were the top objectives selected by stakeholders, followed by energy security (52) and affordability (41). The most cited cross-sector barrier was high upfront transition costs (205 responses), with insufficient grid capacity (141), permitting complexity (119), and grid connection costs (113) also frequently flagged. Stakeholders prioritised additional public financing (182) and effective implementation of the current EU regulatory framework (180) as priority EU policy measures. For general policy design, accelerating and simplifying permitting (173) and revising energy taxation for electricity (149) were the most selected options. On flexibility, promoting digitalisation and data sharing (191) and simplifying storage permitting (186) topped the list.
In the transport sector, barriers included lack of financial incentives (73), behavioural resistance (70), and grid connection difficulties (66). For heating and cooling, high investment costs were the most selected barrier across all building types (147-157 responses), while protection of energy-poor consumers (119) was the top concern for space heating. The Commission also held stakeholder events in 2025: an online workshop with over 20 think tanks on 21-22 October, an in-person meeting with 70+ attendees and 300+ online participants on 7 November, and an industrial consumers workshop with approximately 50 participants on 21 November.
The bottom line from the consultation is that stakeholders strongly support accelerating electrification but prioritise addressing upfront costs, grid capacity, permitting simplification, and effective implementation of existing EU rules over new legislation. The synopsis report accompanies the Commission's Electrification Action Plan communication, which is expected to outline policy measures to boost electrification across sectors.