Europe’s energy bills could be lower than expected this winter – Saudi Gazette

Europe’s energy bills could be lower than expected this winter – Saudi Gazette

BRUSSELS — The possibility of winter blackouts in Europe is being held at bay by falling gas prices.

A spell of unusually warm weather, plus improved supplies, saw the wholesale price of gas drop below €100 per megawatt-hour (MWh) for the first time since mid-June on Monday.

It’s not a household name exactly, but the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) in the Netherlands is Europe’s leading trading hub of fossil gas, where traders swap ‘futures contracts’ for the asset, thereby setting its price.

Gas rose to a record €349 MWh in late August as governments grappled with underground storage deficits and shortages due to Russia’s war, before starting to gradually decrease.

Though they can take a while to make a dent in bills, wholesale prices directly impact the retail price that households and companies pay every month.

It’s not unqualified good news — one climatologist calls the October heat a sign of climate change “spiraling out of control” — and it’s unclear how long lower gas prices will last.

But the turn will be welcomed by millions concerned about their energy bills this season.

There’s a range of factors at play in the reduced gas price. With temperatures milder than expected due to what the UK’s Met Office