NEWS

Structural problems with gas supply and climate impacts have caused electricity prices to soar in Europe, and consumer fears are likely to deepen with the onset of a harsh winter. Some analysts believe that the power crisis in Europe may continue to spread, ringing the alarm bell of the global energy crisis.

Recently, electricity prices across Europe have hit record highs, and the market changes have been jaw-dropping, striking a sudden blow that not only consumers find difficult to accept, but governments are also caught off guard.

In Spain and Portugal, the average wholesale electricity price at the beginning of September was about three times the average price six months ago, at €175 per megawatt hour; the wholesale price at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) was €74.15 per megawatt hour, four times higher than in March; and the price of electricity in the UK has hit an all-time high of €183.84, only more expensive, not the most expensive.

As nearly half of UK electricity depends on natural gas, steel, chemical and other energy-intensive industries can no longer afford high electricity prices; two fertilizer companies plan to close their plants in the winter, while the closure or production reduce of fertilizer plants will trigger a series of chain reactions, and even endanger the production of the food industry.

A meeting of EU ministers in late September was devoted to the issue of soaring gas and electricity prices in order to find a response. The ministers agreed that the situation was "critical" and blamed the unusual 280 percent rise in gas prices this year on a range of factors including low storage levels of gas, supply constraints from Russia, low renewable energy production, and the commodity cycle under inflation. The Commission is unlikely to come up with an effective response soon.