The difficult years of the “skinny cows” portend for Europeans how high the cost of the energy crisis is for European households, as well as for European businesses already on their knees due to high energy prices. Among them is the equally ominous calculation of Goldman Sachs, according to which electricity bills for European households will increase by 2 trillion. euro early next year. He also predicts that electricity bills will reach 15% of Europe’s GDP at the peak of the crisis, and suggests that the impact of this energy crisis will be even greater than that of the oil crisis of the 1970s. capping the price of natural gas when it is used to generate electricity could make life easier for consumers, as he estimates it could save around 650 billion euros on electricity bills across the EU.

According to Bank of America, the cost of energy for European industry will rise by more than 500%.

That view is echoed by Bank of America, which advocates a cap on natural gas prices when it comes to electricity generation. Calls for E.E. to take support measures for European households, whose electricity bills, according to its own calculations, will grow by more than 2,000 euros over the next year. Equally ominous is his estimate of the burden European industry will bear as energy costs skyrocket by more than 500%. Equally discouraging are estimates from the Brueghel think tank, which has calculated that the total electricity bill for European governments will be around 379 billion euros. The coming winter will be particularly difficult for the UK, which already has the highest electricity prices in Europe and will see bills rise by around 178%. After all, the increase in gas tariffs in the Netherlands will be three-digit, since the country has the highest gas tariffs.

Indeed, since July, economic analysts at Bloomberg have calculated that the electricity bill for Europe will reach 200 billion euros in winter. They came up with this alarming amount without even taking into account the worst-case scenario that seems to be happening right now: a complete shutdown of Russian gas supplies from the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.

Multibillion-dollar household support measures

Although the general reaction of the EU. The energy crisis appears to be still ongoing, with member countries taking action at the national level in an attempt to protect their economies from the devastating impact of the energy crisis.

Germany has made a commitment to energy conservation, calling on businesses, households, consumers and shops to join a collaborative effort to reduce energy consumption by 20%. So, from September 1, the maximum temperature in public buildings is set at 10 degrees, heating in corridors and stairwells and hot water in toilets are cancelled. In places of manual labor, the maximum temperature is limited to 12 degrees, with the exception of hospitals, schools and kindergartens. In addition, monuments and public buildings will no longer be illuminated at night, and advertising signs will be closed every night at 10 am. As long as the temperature is high and the air conditioning is on, commercial store doors will remain closed. The Scholz government implemented three support packages for German households at the same time, the latest of which allocated 65 billion euros to support consumers and businesses. They provide discounts for travel in public transport, one-time benefits for pensioners, as well as tax incentives and discounts for businesses. At the same time, Berlin will use tax revenue to lower consumer prices for natural gas, oil and coal. Italy has approved emergency aid for households and businesses in the country since the beginning of the year, totaling 50 billion euros. At the same time, he cut fuel taxes by 30 euro cents per litre, approved tax refunds for companies consuming large amounts of natural gas, and reduced VAT to 5% on natural gas and electricity bills sent to 33 million households and 6 million enterprises. Despite the government’s efforts to tax the excess profits of energy companies, only one billion euros of the total 10 billion euros owed to the state has been paid in taxes so far. However, the measures taken by Italy for energy saving are softer, since they only provide that in public buildings the temperature of air conditioners in summer will not fall below 25 degrees, and radiators in winter will not rise above 20 degrees.

France, which thanks to its nuclear reactors does not depend on Russian hydrocarbons as a source of energy, is also in distress, with half of its reactors shut down due to technical problems and repairs. Thus, it was also forced to increase its coal-fired power generation, but the government even considered the possibility of alternating power outages in households for several hours a day. However, it provides for financial support for households and a slowdown in its energy-intensive industries.

Finally, a few days ago, Austria decided to provide state aid to the country’s largest energy company, following in the footsteps of Germany, which provided state aid to Uniper, and France, which nationalized Electricite de France. But she plans to save energy by making sacrifices that, given the customs of Western European countries, are great: in the center of cities, lanterns are not lit at Christmas, in open markets they are lit later than in other years, and the country’s factories will be ready to work, replacing natural gas oil.

Banks install generators and turn off the lights, data centers buy diesel

While European leaders are still trying to find a common response to the energy crisis, European utilities, banks, telecommunications companies and businesses are showing unprecedented mobility. They themselves are in a hurry to take unimaginable measures to protect themselves from the coming hard winter, to provide the necessary energy so that their work is not interrupted, and also to reduce energy costs. What is particularly impressive is the initiative of many European banks, which are installing generators in their stores to keep their computer systems and ATMs running in the event of a power outage. At the same time, they are putting their activities to the test to see if they can withstand major power outages. Among them is JPMorgan, which employs thousands of employees in the financial centers of London and Frankfurt and resorts to power outage simulations. To deal with the possibility of extended power outages, he plans to use diesel generators that can keep some of his key facilities running for several days. The Italian Unicredito is trying to calculate its resilience through special power outage tests and, in particular, calculates the resilience of the data processing system. Generators eventually created the Euronext network with French and Italian stock exchanges, while banking giants such as Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas are cutting jobs, concentrating more staff in smaller spaces, turning off unnecessary light bulbs and meticulously recording energy consumption. . At the same time, data centers are buying extra diesel and storing it to deal with winter fuel shortages. The world’s two largest data centers, Equinix and Digital Realty Trust, with a market capitalization of $64 billion and $38 billion respectively, are buying large volumes of diesel fuel to ensure energy sufficiency. Meanwhile, European utilities are forced to store liquefied natural gas (LNG) in tankers, which they pay to wait somewhere off the coast of Europe. According to market participants, for this reason, at least 1.4 million tons of LNG remain in storage in tankers and are at the disposal of the companies that bought the fuel. Also, an increasing number of floating terminals are preparing to ship fuel to European markets. Two of them are near ports in the Netherlands, Germany has chartered five floating terminals, and Italy, France and the Baltic countries are preparing to do the same.

Warning

Half of France’s nuclear reactors have been shut down for maintenance, leaving the country vulnerable to an energy crisis. French President Emmanuel Macron has prepared his compatriots for what will no doubt be a “difficult” winter, and warned them a few days ago that “the end of abundance and negligence.”

Nobody is alone

In an attempt to reassure citizens about the problems of the coming winter, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently promised that the most vulnerable would be given adequate support and that no one would be left alone, saying in English “you will never walk alone.” “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from the musical Carousel.

Invitation

Calling on Belgians, and by extension all Europeans, to consciously limit their energy consumption in order to ensure that the most basic energy needs are met, Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre de Croix emphasized that “energy that is not used is by far the cheapest, and if we all make an effort, prices will fall.”