European commission president Ursula von der Leyen. Picture: REUTERS/JOHANNA GERON
The unprecedented spike in power prices, which have soared almost tenfold in the past year, has fuelled inflation and dramatically increased the economic burden on businesses and households recovering from the pandemic. A draft internal EU document seen by Bloomberg News earlier this year showed the commission considered an option of capping gas prices to avoid “unbearably high” costs if Russia significantly limits or cuts off the flow. Introducing a maximum regulated price in an emergency would be limited to its duration and the market price should be used as long as possible.
European natural gas prices on Monday plunged the most since March after Germany said its gas stores are filling up faster than planned. Benchmark Dutch front-month futures fell as much as 21%, partly reversing last week’s jump of almost 40%. “We will look very carefully at what instruments we have that we can use to bring down electricity prices,” Scholz said. “It’s not something that can happen at random, it has to work in a technical sense, but obviously what is being set now as the market price is not a real reflection of supply and demand.”
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