{"id":469664,"date":"2026-03-11T13:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/469664\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T13:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:19:09","slug":"europe-explores-capping-natural-gas-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/469664\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe explores capping natural gas prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/p>\n

The EU is considering subsidising or capping natural gas prices among a series of measures that could \u201cdeliver relief now\u201d to the increase in European energy prices caused by conflict in the Middle East, Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen told the European parliament in Strasbourg that caps or subsidies could be used to lower the impact when gas sets the price of electricity, which happens when intermittent renewables do not supply enough power to the grid. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is crucial that we reduce the cost impact,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This could be done via state aid measures, better use of long-term contracts in electricity markets and \u201cexploring subsidies or even capping the gas prices\u201d, Von der Leyen said.<\/p>\n

Politicians from across Europe have called for caps in the wake of price fluctuations driven by the US-Israeli war with Iran<\/a>. But it is a controversial measure, and opponents warn that interference in the market risks prompting higher electricity usage that could then quickly drain public finances. <\/p>\n

In December 2022, in response to price surges caused by Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine<\/a>, the EU set a price ceiling of \u20ac180 per megawatt-hour for the TTF European gas benchmark, but it was never triggered because of strict strings attached to the intervention. <\/p>\n

\"UrsulaUrsula von der Leyen: \u2018It is crucial that we reduce the cost impact\u2019 \u00a9 Ronald Wittek\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\u201cAny form of gas price cap or subsidy would be highly counter-productive for Europe,\u201d said Simone Tagliapietra, an energy analyst at Bruegel think-tank in Brussels. \u201cArtificially lowering the gas price would stimulate demand for the scarce or pricey commodity, making the situation worse and coming at huge cost for public finances.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Commission has been preparing options for tackling high energy prices ahead of the upcoming EU leaders summit next week.<\/p>\n

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\"An<\/a><\/p>\n

It committed to bringing forward proposals after an informal meeting of EU leaders at the Belgian castle of Alden Biesen last month, but the question has gained added urgency because of the near closure of the Strait of Hormuz and shutdown of energy facilities in the Middle East. <\/p>\n

Von der Leyen also urged member states to consider lowering taxes on energy bills, which account for 15 per cent of the overall cost, and defended the emissions trading system, which applies carbon costs to energy prices, but said it needed to be \u201cmodernised\u201d.<\/p>\n

The ETS system has been attacked recently by member states, including Italy, and accounts for about 11 per cent of European energy bills on average. Italy has called for the system\u2019s suspension to reduce carbon costs<\/a>, renewing these calls because of the Iranian conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout ETS we would now consume 100 bcm more gas \u2014 again, making us more vulnerable and more dependent. So we need ETS, but we need to modernise it,\u201d von der Leyen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-469664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}