During the worst months of the pandemic, when economic activity virtually ground to a halt, future gas prices at the TTF fell below the €10 per megawatt-hour, leading producers to huge losses. The system is today liberalised and responds to the fundamental dynamics of supply and demand. ![]() Speculation is an inherent part of Europe's energy market. At least, until we see how cold winter is – that's probably when prices will peak." "If Nord Stream 1 doesn't resume flows after the three-day maintenance, there is no way to say how bad prices can go. The market, as it always does, is factoring in the worst circumstances, the worst interpretation," Jonathan Stern, a research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, told Euronews. The unprecedented effort is meant to cushion the impact of a total cut-off of Russian flows, a drastic scenario that has in recent months gone from remote to likely.Īs gas prices continue to climb, a pressing question emerges: just how high can they go? Mindful of these shortcomings, member states have already established a plan to voluntarily reduce gas demand by 15% before next spring. Southern Californians may pay less during the winter and more during the summer than their actual gas consumption, but the bills remain level.While storage plays a key role in the security of supplies, it is far from being a panacea for the EU's multiple energy woes: the bloc has a capacity to store over 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas – a quarter of its annual 400 bcm consumption. People can enroll in a utilities program called the Level Pay Plan, which calculates gas usage over a six-month period and allows consumers to pay a set bill each month. He said his organization has called on California’s attorney general and the Los Angeles city attorney to investigate these incidents.īut while natural gas prices remain elevated this winter, Court said there are ways customers can manage the additional costs. The Consumer Watchdog president questioned whether SoCalGas may be purposefully under preparing in order to exploit consumers and make more money off of their parent company. And what’s really troubling is they’re buying it on-the-spot market from their parent company Sempra and its subsidiaries at twice the cost,” he argued. They didn’t plan, and they had to buy it on-the-spot market. ![]() ![]() “The real problem here is Southern California Gas’ lack of planning. “Inside the Issues” guest host Ariel Wesler spoke to Jamie Court, the president of Consumer Watchdog, about the sudden jump in natural gas prices.Ĭourt explained that the problem is twofold: SoCalGas failed to prepare for a cold winter and more natural gas was exported to Europe after Russia cut off gas pipelines amid the war in Ukraine. The company urged consumers to expect a 128% increase in gas bills this winter because of these changing market conditions.
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