The price of gas in Europe has crossed the threshold of 3,500 dollars per thousand cubic meters. This is the highest price since early March. The EU energy market is sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss of the crisis. Bloomberg promises the British a 100% increase in annual electricity bills – 3.5 thousand pounds, or 245 thousand rubles. And this situation is now almost everywhere in Europe. Politicians are already preparing people for a state of emergency and calling for austerity.
Turn off the lights, forget the heating and stock up on food for the future – one in two families in England, analysts say, already live this way. The reason for the savings is gigantic electricity bills. From October, the situation will only get worse. No one is exempt from gigantic bills – not even hospitals. Thousands of people whose health depends on procedures on electrical equipment may be on the brink of life or death.
“My kidneys are not working. I will die without my machine, I have to use it five times a week, that’s 20 hours. We haven’t had a television for a long time. In the evening, we all sit in the same room, so we only turn on the light there. We have reduced our energy consumption as much as possible,” says Don White, a resident of Canvey Island in the UK.
One in three households will switch to austerity with the onset of cold weather, according to the charity, which is financially helping Britons to freeze in their homes. 9 million people will be below the so-called fuel poverty threshold.
“We will have another wave of unheated homes in the UK. This will affect people’s mental and physical health. Ten thousand people die every year in the UK directly from cold in the house and from illness. The death toll will rise,” warned Adam Scorer, managing director of National Energy in the UK.
The income of the British, unlike light bills, does not increase. Even churches are starting to save on electricity. Ordinary candles are burned for lighting, the services themselves take place without the use of microphones and audio systems, reports the Sky News channel.
“I couldn’t have imagined this until our treasurer said our heating bills had doubled and were still rising,” said Adam Maynard, vicar of St. George’s Church.
Electricity bills are expected to rise further in January. People are calling for price freezes.
“I wouldn’t pay my bills even if I could. I will not pay. Let them at least put them in jail,” threatened Liverpool resident Olma Baden.
The Mayor of London has called on the UK government to act to prevent the crisis from turning into a national disaster. But outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there would be no electricity price freeze. The poor, according to Johnson, will receive payments, while the wealthy will continue to pay their increased bills.
“I want to emphasize that the bulk of the money will go to the eight million most vulnerable households. A lot of money has been allocated to help. But I don’t think we should cap prices,” Johnson said.
According to him, the government will invest more money in the development of green energy and an increase in gas production in its region, not relying on supplies from other states. Upon learning of this, eco-radical protests began again in the country. The development of alternative energy infrastructures or the search for new gas suppliers are now topical for all of Europe, which has decided to abandon Russian gas. Berlin has decided to go the savings route. True, after calling on citizens to forget about daily showers, Chancellor Olaf Scholz himself, when asked how often he bathes, said he does it every day.
In Germany, the air temperature in the premises was prohibited to heat above 19 degrees, they save on heating corridors and foyers, lighting buildings. Even brewers preparing for the popular Oktoberfest folk festival are forced to limit themselves.
“The breweries are gas-fired, there are gas-heated steam boilers. And we have already taken precautions. We have converted part of the energy supply to fuel oil, so that we can operate the brewhouse for at least five weeks, independent of the gas supply,” boasted Ulrich Biehn, spokesperson for the brewery. Grevenstein.
In the meantime, the municipality of The Hague has decided to ask the European Union for permission to continue buying Russian gas. According to Reuters, the European city is not ready to refuse supplies until October 10, as required by the sanctions. Spain went the other way. In order to reduce the use of Russian gas, it was officially forbidden to cool the air with air conditioners below 27 degrees in public places in summer, and to heat it above 19 degrees in winter.
Portugal is set to introduce a temperature limit in public places, and Croatian authorities have urged residents to heat their homes with firewood. The government has even proposed to lower the VAT on wood.
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