Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer advocated for limiting the growth of electricity prices throughout the European Union (EU). This was stated in a statement from the office of the Austrian chancellor.
“We must finally stop the madness that is happening in the energy markets. And this can only happen through a European solution,” the office quoted Mr. Nehammer as promising to convince dissenters (Reuters translation). The statement notes that the chancellor will insist on a sustainable model that can be implemented quickly, without going into detail. Karl Nehammer discussed the issue with his Czech and German counterparts.
“Something has to finally happen. This market will not self-regulate in its present form. I call on all 27 EU countries to unite to stop this price explosion immediately,” Mr. Nehammer urges.
He says the market price of electricity must come back down and be separated from gas in order to bring it closer to the actual production costs. “We cannot allow Putin to determine the European electricity price every day,” the Austrian chancellor says.
Austria is heavily dependent on Russian gas, especially for industry and heating, receiving about 80 percent of its supplies from Russia before the military operation, Reuters recalls. At the same time, most of the country’s electricity comes from renewable sources, and there is a growing misunderstanding among the Austrian public about a market system in which gas and electricity prices are closely linked, the agency notes.
Exchange gas prices broke through the $3,500 per 1,000 cubic meter mark on August 26. Against this background, according to Bloomberg, the Czech chairmanship of the Council of Europe plans to discuss measures to combat rising energy prices in the near future.
Read more in the Kommersant FM article “Europe reconciles meters”.