Prices may rise by another 50%

GAS and electricity prices could surge by another 50% this winter, adding an additional €2,000 to annual bills, consumer experts fear.

Russia’s gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will not resume in full until the ‘collective West’ lifts sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has threatened.

The threat of an extended shut-off was described as ‘sending a new tsunami’ through the EU economy which is still recovering from the pandemic.

One energy analyst said the shut-off could send annual domestic energy bills soaring to a huge €6,000 a year.

EU governments were last night racing through packages worth billions to prevent power companies being crushed by a liquidity crunch and to protect households from soaring bills.

‘This has had the ingredients for a kind of a Lehman Brothers of energy industry,’ Finnish economic affairs minister Mika Lintila said.

The bottom line is domestic energy bills are expected to soar, according to Daragh Cassidy, of energy switching site Bonkers.ie. ‘It’s possible we could see gas and electricity rise by another 50% over the coming months unless the EU can find a way to bring down prices. That would add another €2,000 approximately to the average gas and electricity bill taking it to €6,000 a year,’ he said. ‘It was long expected that [Vladimir] Putin would eventually turn off the Nord Stream pipeline completely.

‘The sad reality is that Russia can afford to for now. Gas has risen to such astronomical heights that the money Russia is losing by not selling energy to Europe is being more than compensated for by the huge prices that it’s getting for selling gas elsewhere.

‘Gas is up by around 1,000% over the past 18 months or so. During the oil crisis in the Seventies, oil went up by around 300 to 400%. That just shows you the scale of the crisis we’re facing.

‘It’s still debatable if Europe and Ireland will face blackouts this winter. But Putin has turned off the gas taps far earlier than expected which doesn’t help.’