This morning the price of Dutch TTF even peaked at 227 euros per megawatt hour, according to data from trading platform ICE. This concerns gas that will be delivered in August. Prices for gas contracts in subsequent months are even higher.
These are unprecedented numbers, notes Ben Woldring, owner of comparison site Gaslicht.com. And since energy companies buy the gas for these kinds of prices, consumers will also have to deal with it.
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“A price of 200 euros for a few days does not matter much. But we have been at this very high level for seven months now. Sometimes up to 10 times the normal price. Every day that it takes longer, makes the consumer want it more brands.”
Anyone who has to deal with a variable rate, which is now half of the Dutch population, will be the first to notice it. But people with a permanent contract will also have to deal with it sooner or later, as soon as their contract expires.
Severity situation
The financial pain is therefore increasing. “We are concerned whether the cabinet is aware of the seriousness of the situation. Because not only the gas price, but also the electricity price is sky-high,” said Woldring.
The reason for the rising gas prices is the hassle surrounding the important pipeline Nord Stream 1. This pipeline runs from Russia to Germany and is used by the Russian state gas company Gazprom to transport gas to Europe.
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Due to maintenance, the transport was stopped for 10 days earlier this month. After this maintenance, the pipeline was only used at 40 percent of its maximum capacity. As of this morning, this has been reduced to 20 percent, which amounts to 33 million cubic meters of gas per day.
Russia: to blame for the sanctions
More is not technically possible, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov. Gazprom was and remains a reliable party for all its obligations, but cannot guarantee deliveries if foreign equipment cannot be serviced due to European sanctions.
A turbine was brought to Canada for maintenance. According to Russia, the sanctions against the country because of the invasion of Ukraine are the reason that the turbine has not yet returned. According to the German government, the Russians are playing ‘a power game’ by reducing capacity.
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