Further Energy Council Meeting Set for this Month

The European Commission will call another Energy Council meeting by the end of this month to approve new measures to deal with the energy crisis according to Spain’s energy minister Teresa Ribera.

• At the last meeting, delegates agreed to a five-step plan but nothing has been formally brought into legislation. There has been debate around the viability of some of the steps – in particular those surrounding price cap ideas. The steps out of last Friday’s meeting and announced by von der Leyen were:

— Setting a price cap on Russian gas;

— Mandatory measures to reduce electricity demand during peak hours;

— A cap on the “enormous revenues” some companies are making by generating electricity from lower cost sources than gas. These "unexpected profits" would be redirected to help consumers;

— A solidarity tax on fossil fuel companies making big profits, again with the funds sent to help ease the pain for consumers and businesses

— Facilitating funding support for ailing utility companies struggling to pay for supplies on the market.