Among the member states of the European Union, gas consumption dropped by 19.3 percent between August and January, according to Eurostat.
BRUSSELS: A senior EU official said on Thursday that after meeting a previous energy-saving target, the European Commission will tell EU member states to continue reducing their gas consumption next winter.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, energy prices skyrocketed, and in July, the 27-nation bloc agreed to reduce gas consumption by 15 percent from August 2022 to March 2023, compared to the average of the prior five years.
Since warmer-than-anticipated weather and high prices pushed consumers to use less energy, the decrease in usage actually exceeded the “voluntary” target.
Despite the fact that the EU’s gas consumption dropped by 19.3 percent between August and January, according to Eurostat, compared to the same period between 2017 and 2022, Brussels is pushing for even more action.
“We should be under no illusion that things are getting easy,” the EU’s energy commissioner, Kadri Simson, told the European Parliament.
Once again, she urged member states to cut demand by 15%.
The minimum number of countries required to pass a proposal is 27.
Simson elaborated, “This has worked well and is the best guarantee to achieve an adequate level of storage by November.
She also urged some countries to end their imports of Russian LNG even if the gas is not sanctioned.
According to her, “we can and should get rid of Russian gas completely as soon as possible,” and she urged businesses and governments to not renew their lapsed contracts with Russia.
