A temporary roof at the gas price To try to reduce cost differences with the United States. This is this, according to an indiscretion made by the Financial Timesthe move that the EU Commission would be evaluating and that has already attracted several criticism by the industries of the sector who fear which the trust of the old continent market can be compromised. There is also a fairly recent historian precedent: in 2022in the full energy crisis born with the onset of the war in Ukraine, a gas price cap was imposed which, however, never entered into force as the figures always remained below the threshold of 180 euros for megawattora that had been fixed.
The new roof on the price of European gas
The Price cap on the gas It is substantiated in an instrument with which an organization, in this specific case the European Union, decides to counter the increases on the raw material by setting one maximum price threshold to which the same can be exchanged in the wholesale. This mechanism would apply to all contracts related to the TTF index of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, or the main wholesale market linked to the purchase of gas in the old continent, but also to other European indices such as the Italian PSV (virtual exchange point) used by Arera for defining prices paid by customers.
As supported by Fincial Timesthe European Commission would have launched the work to establish a new Price Cap on gas in Europe to try to contrast the record levels achieved compared to United States of America. At the moment, in the absence of other feedback, it seems that the new roof of the gas can be included in the context of the discussions on the Clean Industrial Deal which, as a calendar, will be presented next month.
Strong criticisms of the EU move
Although it is at the moment only of rumors, the possible introduction of a roof at the gas price has already attracted many criticism by the industrial groups of the sector, who fear that the initiative can go to harm the trust of the European market. Eleven associations, including Europex and Afmes respectively representatives of European energy bags and European financial markets, sent a letter to the President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen on 11 February 2025 to express all their dissent.
“We believe – reads the letter – that this measure, if announced, could have negative consequences of vast scope on the stability of European energy markets and on the safety of the supply on the continent”. And again: “It would push (the roof at the price of the gas, editor’s note) the global gas community to move to other reference prices, without restrictions and therefore more representative, which are mainly found outside the EU”.
The previous useless European Price Cap
The instrument of Price cap on the gasas mentioned, has already been used in Europe recently without having any kind of effect. In the 2022, In the midst of the energy crisis that began with the Russian attack on Ukraine, the EU Commission decided to impose a roof of 180 euros for Megawattara At the price of the energy raw material, but the intervention did not lead to any result since the prices remained under the indicated threshold. Also by virtue of what happened in 2022, the industrial groups of the sector push so that the EU decides to change its way.
