LONDON: Measures to help shield consumers from record high wholesale energy prices amid high inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine look set to dominate an European Union summit later this week.
Below outlines some of the policies Britain and European member states have already announced:
BRITAIN
Britain has a price cap on the most widely used household energy contracts but this is expected to rise by some 50% in April.
To limit the impact the government has announced a package of measures, including a 200 pounds ($263) discount on electricity bills for all households to be repaid over five years, and a 150 pound rebate on council tax bills for around 80% of households in England.
Energy poverty campaigners said with a further price cap rise expected in October the measures do not go far enough. They are calling on the government to do more in this week’s spring financial statement such as removing VAT - value added tax - from energy bills.
BULGARIA
Bulgaria has frozen regulated electricity and heating prices until the end of March to shield households.
EUROPEAN COMMISION
European Union countries are largely responsible for their national energy policies, and EU rules allow them to take emergency measures to protect consumers from higher costs.
The European Commission in October published a “toolbox” of measures EU members can use without breaching competition rules, including subsidies to help poorer households, funding for renovations that reduce energy use or exempting vulnerable households from higher energy taxes.
European leaders, meeting at an EU summit this week, are expected to discuss potential extra EU-wide measures, such as electricity or gas price caps being proposed by some countries.
FRANCE
France has committed to capping an increase on regulated electricity costs at 4%. To help do this the government has ordered utility EDF, which is 80% state owned, to sell more cheap nuclear power to rivals.
New measures announced since the Ukraine crisis - such as helping companies with the cost of higher gas and power bills - bringing the total cost of the government package to 25-26 billion euros ($28 billion) Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.
DENMARK
Danish lawmakers have agreed a so-called “heat check,” which means subsidies worth 1 billion Danish crowns ($149 million) will be paid to some 320,000 of the hardest-hit households.
GERMANY
The government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz has approved tax relief measures totalling 4.5 billion euros this year, including an allowance for commuters, to help households with exploding energy prices.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner also wants to introduce a temporary rebate for petrol and diesel that would amount to 6.6 billion euros over three months. His plan is facing resistance from the environmentalist Greens reluctant to back state subsidies for fossil fuels.
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