Interviewed Bloomberg Financiers predicted European countries from large problems due to the energy crisis, one of the main manifestations of which was expensive gas for all categories of consumers. The measures taken may not be enough, and many of them will not be implemented due to political confrontation.
The agency’s interlocutors call the growing cost of gas (last year its value has grown more than three times) and, as a result, electricity is one of the worst energy crises in history and threat to a million families encountered with difficulties in paying utilities.
In such conditions of the government of almost all countries of the European Union, seek to help their inhabitants through direct benefits and payments, as well as through subsidies to energy companies designed to reduce electricity prices and gas supply. So, the power of Italy pay 337 euros per year for one household.
In this case, the efforts of the authorities are still insufficient, analysts note. According to their data, in 2022, European families will increase electricity costs by an average of 54 percent compared with the 2020th. In addition, the amount of payments will be varied in individual countries, and in the UK direct assistance to residents in connection with the energy crisis and is not available at all.
In many countries, as, for example, in Germany, the question of social assistance to the population in connection with the raised municipal services has become a reason for the domestic political struggle. The Government of Social Democrat Olaf Scholz as a whole stands for payments, but his opponents from the free Democratic Party, on the contrary, defend the interests of the business and call for budget spending.
Finally, before the leadership of individual countries and the EU as a whole, the task of transition to clean and more expensive energy sources is worthwhile, which in the future should lead to even greater increase in costs. Already, governments and opposition speak of the need to finance environmental programs instead of helping residents.
The price of gas in Europe began to grow rapidly at the end of August, mainly due to interruptions in supplies from Russia and low levels of storage facilities in the region. In peak moments, the cost of a thousand cubic meters of gas at the British Stock Exchange ICE reached 1200 dollars. At the time of publication, February futures cost 83 euros per megawatt-hour, or $ 998.2 per thousand cubic meters.