German, French electricity prices soar to new records

The price of electricity in Germany and France for 2023 has soared to new records due to the European energy crisis caused by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

According to AFP, in Germany, the price of electricity for the year ahead reached €850 ($850) per megawatt hours (MWh) in the stock market. The year-ahead contract in France’s bourse market passed €1,000 on Friday.

Compared to last year’s price, €85 in both countries, the year-ahead contracts in both countries’ markets indicate a stark rise in energy prices.

Soaring energy prices coupled with runaway inflation have put the livelihood of Europeans under heavy constraints after the Europeans severed their energy ties with Russia, the main supplier of natural gas to Europe, over the Ukraine conflict, triggering a dire economic crisis on the continent.

Russia, in turn, slashed natural gas supplies to the continent, with fears of more drastic cuts in the winter amid tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict.

The shutdown of several nuclear reactors in France due to corrosion issues has contributed to the electricity price increase as power production has dramatically decreased in the country.

European countries have launched energy savings campaigns to prepare for the winter.

The Czech Republic, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, announced Friday that it would convene an EU energy crisis summit “at the earliest possible date.”

Europe wrestling with livelihood constraints over US-inflamed war in Ukraine

European countries are wrestling with runaway inflation and soaring energy prices stemming from the US-inflamed war in Ukraine, bearing the brunt of Washington’s interventionist policy wreaking havoc across the continent.

‘Unstoppable march upwards’

“Gas is on a seemingly unstoppable march upwards again, a dramatic move which will intensify the energy crisis,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter as quoted by AFP.

“Already plans are being brought in to save energy which will darken streets across Germany and make public buildings colder, but much tougher measures may have to be enforced given dwindling gas reserves,” Streeter warned.

In Britain, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) on Friday revealed a distressing 80 percent hike in electricity and gas bills, bearing testimony to the country’s exacerbating cost-of-living crisis.

The UK’s energy bills are set to jump 80 percent to an average of £3,549 ($4,188) per year from October, Ofgem announced.

Ofgem warned that the “crisis” needed to be tackled through urgent and decisive government measures.

Noting that the price hike would have a “massive impact” on households across the country, Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brearley warned of yet another likely increase in January, reflecting significant pricing pressure in energy markets. Brearley also blamed the ongoing conflict in Ukraine for the turbulence in the UK energy market and soaring gas prices.

“The increase (in the cap) reflects the continued rise in global wholesale gas prices, which began to surge as the world unlocked from the [COVID-19] pandemic and have been driven still higher to record levels by Russia slowly switching off gas supplies to Europe,” Ofgem announced in a statement.

“We know the massive impact this price cap increase will have on households across Britain and the difficult decisions consumers will now have to make,” Brearley said on Friday. “I talk to customers regularly and I know that today’s news will be very worrying for many.”

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