EU aims to tackle surging electricity prices

Brussels is planning an “emergency intervention” to deal with the crisis

The EU is planning urgent steps to bring down surging power prices, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday, as quoted by Bloomberg.

“The skyrocketing electricity prices are now exposing, for different reasons, the limitations of our current electricity market design,” von der Leyen reportedly said in a speech at the Bled Strategic Summit in Slovenia.

“It was developed under completely different circumstances and completely different purposes. That’s why we are now working on an emergency intervention and a structural reform of the electricity market,” she added.

According to von der Leyen, the exact details of the intervention plan are still being developed, but it could be presented as soon as this week.

Power prices across the EU have soared almost tenfold over the past year, driving up inflation and the economic burden on businesses and households recovering from the pandemic. Governments have already set aside about €280 billion ($279 billion) in tax cuts and subsidies to help consumers and businesses hit by the crisis. Governments have also started to limit energy use, banning outside lighting for buildings and lowering indoor heating temperatures to meet the union’s voluntary target of cutting gas demand by 15%.

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