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面对最严峻的能源危机,欧洲下周能出什么招?

What can Europe do next week in the face of the worst energy crisis?

Wallstreet News ·  Sep 4, 2022 01:19

Source: Wall Street

Author: Gao Zhimou

As European electricity and natural gas prices soar and more member states call for price caps, the EU is considering various measures to intervene in the energy market.

On September 9th, the EU will hold a special meeting of energy ministers to discuss the intervention plan. Woersdoerfer, a senior energy official of the European Commission, has previously said that measures to intervene in the energy market may include price restrictions, a reduction in electricity demand and a windfall tax on energy companies. At present, the market is highly concerned about the specific measures and the degree of intervention that may be proposed at the meeting.

Today, a draft intra-EU document quoted by the media shows the EU's preliminary thinking:Adopt a package of measures to reduce demand, limit the benefits of low marginal cost electricity sources, and finance policies to reduce energy costs in the household sector and the SME sector.The draft also showsThe measure of levying a "windfall tax" on excess profits of energy companies may not be included in the package of measures.

Analysts believe that the above measures may benefit energy-intensive enterprises such as chemical giants in the region, while relevant public utilities will be hit by the revenue ceiling, but if the price ceiling is set "high enough", public utilities will not encounter a "disaster".

"the surge in electricity prices now exposes the limitations of the design of our electricity market," European Commission President Von de Lane said on Monday. "it was developed in a completely different environment and for a completely different purpose," she added. "that is why we are now working hard to intervene urgently and carry out structural reforms in the electricity market."

Recently, the heads of state or government of eight European countries and leaders of the European Union, the Danish Prime Minister's official residence in Marinburg, held a Baltic energy summit and signed the Marinburg Declaration, agreeing to strengthen energy security and offshore wind power cooperation. However, market analysts believe that short-term interventions will still be the focus of the EU's current work.

Simone Tagliapietra of Bruegel, a think tank, says:

Market design reforms usually take years.This is an extremely complex world of rules, and people have to make trade-offs very carefully.

With regard to the EU's intervention plan in the electricity market, Mou Yiling of Minsheng Securities believes that the purpose of the plan is to lower skyrocketing electricity prices in the short term, and finally realize the decoupling of natural gas and electricity prices. specific measures include setting a natural gas price ceiling, or similar to the current Spanish practice of "setting a natural gas price ceiling for power generation, and government subsidies for those whose market prices exceed the upper limit".

1、If the price limit is set by means of price limitAlthough prices in controlled industries have been significantly suppressed.But the price control of structured commodities is not a good way to curb inflation.The reason is that the excess purchasing power is transferred to uncontrolled goods, resulting in a "spillover effect".

2、If you use the Spanish modelIt is true that electricity prices in Spain have fallen since the implementation of the policy.But the margin of effectiveness of this method depends on financial strength.Especially when natural gas prices rise sharply, the financial pressure will be highlighted.

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