![]() In Spain, the government has begun a huge effort to improve energy efficiency in buildings and in industry. Italy is looking to Algeria as a potential new supplier of natural gas to replace Russian fuel. Germany, Europe’s biggest user of Russian gas, reversed plans on Monday to shut down two of its three remaining nuclear power plants by the end of the year, and on Sunday announced a $65 billion aid package to ease the burden of high energy costs on citizens. ![]() Even so, energy bills for households and businesses have soared, prompting European governments to resort to a range of offsets that few would have thought possible before the war. Putin, to use energy as a weapon - last week Russia’s state-owned gas company, Gazprom, halted gas supplies to France - has sent oil and gas prices to record highs.Ĭountries including France have increased reserves as Gazprom turns off the taps: This weekend, France’s gas storage facilities were 92 percent full. The apparent willingness of Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Companies will be required to cut their energy use by 10 percent or face enforced rationing of electricity and gas. (The overall eurozone rate for August was 9.1 percent.)īut with food and fuel costs still straining French families, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has called on businesses to make the bulk of the nation’s energy savings - fast. The moves to control energy costs, including the re-nationalization of the energy provider EDF, have helped give France one of the lowest inflation rates in Europe, at 6.5 percent. The government has been spending lavishly - over 26 billion euros ($26 billion) since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - to keep gas and electric bills affordable, and last week it announced that its cap on household energy bills would be extended until the end of the year. On Friday, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the energy transition minister, sought to reassure wary citizens, saying the government would try to “avoid restrictive measures” over energy use in the peak winter cold season.
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