Status: 12/19/2022 5:26 p.m
After months of wrangling, the EU countries have agreed on a gas price cap. Accordingly, the cap can be triggered from February 15 from a price of 180 euros per megawatt hour.
In the European Union, wholesale gas prices are to be capped under certain circumstances. The energy ministers of the EU states agreed on the possibility of such a market intervention, as a spokeswoman for the EU Council of Ministers announced.
The cap can be triggered from a price of 180 euros per megawatt hour, as stated in the decision taken in Brussels. The mechanism can therefore be activated from February 15th.
At the time of the decision, the gas price at the TTF trading venue was around EUR 110 per megawatt hour. In August, the price on the TTF reached a high of over 340 euros per megawatt hour.
Germany apparently voted in favor of the mechanism
According to information from the news agencies dpa and Reuters, Germany also voted for the cover. The federal government had long resisted such a mechanism. She feared that security of supply would then be jeopardized because suppliers could sell their gas on Asian markets, for example, where they could achieve higher prices.
The project basically affects major customers who trade on the TTF trading platform – not end consumers, as is the case with the federal government’s gas price brake. Consumer prices are indirectly influenced by wholesale prices.