Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer proposed on Sunday that the European Union separate the price of electricity from the price of gas and introduce a price cap on electricity prices, the Telegraph Office reports.
"The prices of the electricity supply must be reduced, Putin must not be allowed to make decisions for the Europeans every day. We have to stop this madness that is currently raging on the energy markets, and this is only possible with a European-level solution," the Chancellor said in his statement. He added: something must be done, the market will not correct itself in its current form.
Austria's gas supply is significantly dependent on the Russian market, but the majority of electricity is produced from renewable energy sources. The Reuters news agency noted: Many people in Austria are increasingly confused by the fact that the prices of electricity and gas are closely related on the energy market.
The market price of electricity needs to come down and be decoupled from gas to bring the price closer to the actual cost of production, Nehammer said.
Petr Fiala , the prime minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the successive EU presidency, announced on Friday that an emergency meeting of the energy ministers of the member states would soon be convened. Nehammer confirmed that the plan to unbundle electricity rates will be on the agenda of the meeting.
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Source and title image: MTI/Tibor Oláh
