Due to a post-pandemic rise in demand and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gas and energy costs are skyrocketing, resulting in an energy crisis of a scale not witnessed in the last 50 years.
Here is a look at the difficulties and choices that nations from Sri Lanka to Britain are facing as EU energy ministers meet emergency talks on Friday.Prices have soared in an area that has been strongly dependent on Russian shipments as Russia has reduced natural gas supply to European Union nations in what appears to be retaliation for sanctions.
Because gas is also utilised to generate electricity, the cost of electricity has also increased.At August pricing, a typical German home using 20,000 kilowatt hours would have a yearly bill of 3,717 euros ($3,755), which is a record increase of 185%.
Energy costs in Britain have doubled in the last year, and were about to increase by another 80% on October 1 to an average of £3,549 ($4,197) annually when the government intervened on Thursday with a new ceiling.
Regulated energy costs in Italy are already double what they were a year ago, while gas prices have increased by 86%.
