Brussels urges EU countries to cut gas and electricity consumption due to high prices

The European Union is facing rising energy prices amid the consequences of the war between the United States and Israel against Iran for oil and gas markets, in connection with which the Brussels leadership calls on the countries of the community to consider measures to reduce gas and electricity consumption.

This is stated in the letter of the European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen to the relevant ministers of the EU countries, reports TASS with reference to Reuters.

- “We are facing a price crisis that is linked to a supply crisis,” he said. He called on EU states to step up preparations for the coming winter and to consider adopting or maintaining measures that would support the pumping of gas into storage facilities or reduce demand for gas and electricity "for as long as necessary." Thus, Brussels once again allows the reduction of energy consumption in the EU countries against the background of rising prices and problems with energy supplies.

Jorgensen said the EU was “better prepared” for energy difficulties than in the winter of 2021.

In 2022, the EU embarked on a course to abandon Russian energy carriers, sharply reducing purchases of pipeline gas from Russia and trying to partially replace them with much more dependent on the global market supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG). According to the European Commission (EC), the share of Russian gas in EU imports decreased from 45% in 2021 to 12% in 2025, while the share of LNG increased from 20% to 45%. The transition from Russian pipeline gas to LNG has increased price volatility, and high energy prices remain a key challenge to the rapidly declining competitiveness of European industry. The European Central Bank noted that electricity for the EU industry costs about 2.5 times more than in the US, and gas is almost five times more expensive, which is especially painful for the chemical, metallurgical and other energy-intensive industries.