The gas crisis is spreading over Europe
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Soaring gas prices in the wholesale market mean painful hikes in household bills. But the problem is much wider. In Great Britain, the chemical and food industries are already in trouble, and meat producers are scaring that "there will be no Christmas this year". Smaller energy suppliers in the UK are at risk of bankruptcy.
The gigantic increase in gas prices on the wholesale market will have a painful effect on the wallets of people all over Europe, including Poland. Just on Thursday, September 16, the Energy Regulatory Office approved the third increase in gas prices for households this year - this time by 7.4 percent (although, according to the Energy Regulatory Office, due to the lack of changes in other components of the tariff price, the bill increases will reach approx. 3.5-5 percent). And so Polish consumers are privileged in that the gas supply market in Poland is regulated and the Energy Regulatory Office may slightly curtail the upturns of concerns.
As noted by the portal Wysokienapiecie.pl, in the fourth quarter, gas for households will be approx. 27 percent more expensive than at the beginning of the year.
"You can take comfort in the fact that this still does not correspond to the jump in wholesale market prices, which in 2021 have jumped roughly four times," the portal reads.
One of the main reasons for this may be Gazprom's reluctance to open the gas tap, which is a form of pressure on Europe (for example in the context of the transmission via the criticized Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which is probably starting at the beginning of 2022). The European Commission was called upon by a group of MEPs to investigate the role of Gazprom in rising gas prices. They suspect market manipulation.
