Households across Europe face much higher winter energy bills due to a global surge in wholesale power and gas prices and consumer groups have warned the most vulnerable in the region could be hit by fuel poverty as a result.
WHY RETAIL PRICE RISES? Many energy suppliers announced hikes to retail tariffs in recent months, passing a higher wholesale cost on to consumers.
Natural gas prices have reached unhealthy levels for both producers and consumers, Saad al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Energy Minister and CEO of Qatar Petroleum, the world’s top LNG exporter, said on Thursday
European Union countries have enough gas in storage to last through winter, but the surge in prices shows the need to quickly switch to renewable sources and reform the EU gas market, European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said. “Gas underground storage is above 75% across Europe. This level is lower than the ten-year average, but .