Subsidies, which will be incorporated into power bills, are expected to absorb up to 94% of the rise in monthly power bills for households and 89% of the rise for small and medium-sized firms.

Russia’s Gazprom will halt flows on its key Nord Stream gas pipeline for three days of repairs on Aug. 31, again raising concerns it won’t return after the work.

Russian gas company Gazprom has announced it will halt gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from 31 August to 2 September 2022, quoting maintenance issues for the pipeline’s only remaining compressor.

Benchmark futures rose as much as 16%, also driving up electricity prices to fresh records. The key Nord Stream pipeline will stop for three days of maintenance on Aug. 31, again raising concerns that the link won’t return to service as planned after the works.

Europe is engulfed in an energy crisis fanned by limited supplies from Russia, as well as increased demand amid recovery from the pandemic and a hot and dry summer that has increased the need for cooling.

Gas markets in Europe jumped 6 per cent on Wednesday to €236 a megawatt hour, taking the week’s gains so far to 14 per cent. The latest price was equivalent in energy terms to almost $400 a barrel of oil,

“The still high increase in consumer prices and the expected additional costs for heating and electricity are currently having a particularly negative impact on the prospects for the consumer-related sectors of the economy,” said Michael Schröder, a researcher at the ZEW.

European countries imported on average approximately 400 million cubic meters of gas per day from Russia during the January to July period last year, but imports dropped to 240 million cubic meters per day for the January-July period this year.

Benchmark futures increased as much as 6.5%, after settling 6.8% higher on Monday.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in March, things went from tightness of supply to impending disaster. Russia, through a complex network of pipelines, is the principal supplier of natural gas to Europe and all petroleum products to Germany. Now it has curtailed normal flows.