EU energy bills soar 300%

Energy bills in EU member states soared by at least 300% last summer after a sharp cut in Russian gas supplies, the European Commission president said on Wednesday.

Russia cut European gas supplies by 80% in 8 months, causing European energy prices to spike last summer, our energy bills went up 300%

The senior EU official claimed that Russian officials were trying to "blackmail" the bloc by reducing gas supplies due to EU member states' heavy reliance on Russian gas.

According to her, EU countries are trying to make up for the gas shortage by buying more gas from alternative suppliers and improving energy efficiency to reduce energy consumption by 20%.

She emphasized that Canada has played an "important role" in helping to address the energy crisis by ramping up liquefied natural gas (LNG) production.

RT reported that von der Leyen accused Russia of "blackmailing" EU countries as early as April 2022 after the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom (Gazprom) stopped supplying natural gas to Poland and Bulgaria.

In response, she said Russia "was and remains a reliable supplier of energy to its customers and remains committed to fulfilling its contractual obligations." The natural gas supply to these two countries has just been cut off.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered on March 31 last year that gas trade with "unfriendly" countries and regions must be settled in Russian rubles. This measure was launched in response to Western sanctions.

At that time, Russian energy played an important role in the energy supply of European countries. About 40% of the natural gas and 30% of the oil needed by the EU were imported from Russia. Some European countries are more dependent on Russian energy. More than 90% of the natural gas needed by Bulgaria is supplied by Russia. Poland receives about 9 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia every year, accounting for about 45% of its demand.