Commission measures to ease energy poverty and provide relief to consumers
2.9.2022
Question for oral answer O-000031/2022
to the Commission
Rule 136
Gunnar Beck, Marco Campomenosi, Jean-Paul Garraud, Gerolf Annemans, Jaak Madison, Harald Vilimsky, Mathilde Androuët, Jordan Bardella, Aurélia Beigneux, Dominique Bilde, Annika Bruna, Catherine Griset, Jean-François Jalkh, France Jamet, Virginie Joron, Herve Juvin, Jean-Lin Lacapelle, Gilles Lebreton, Thierry Mariani, Philippe Olivier, André Rougé
on behalf of the ID Group
European consumers are suffering the effects of a marked price hike in electrical power that has put a huge number of households in peril of suffering from absolute energy poverty. Millions of households will be unable to foot their monthly utility bills if prices for all kinds of energy are soaring. The reasons for this unprecedented price hike lie in the combined and cumulative impact of the enormous costs of the energy transition towards renewable energy sources and the peculiar energy market design created by certain EU laws, triggered by the uncertainties and shortages brought about by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The President of the Commission has already taken the very welcome step of announcing that new rules for the EU’s electricity market will be proposed for 2023. Nonetheless, consumers still find themselves in the most dire circumstances.
Given this:
- 1.What immediate steps will the Commission undertake to ease the burden on consumers and to provide some relief against soaring energy bills?
- 2.What would be the earliest time at which consumers could expect a positive impact from the measures taken by the Commission?
- 3.How could the Union adapt its legal framework in order to contribute significantly to decreasing the burden of high electricity prices on consumers?
Submitted: 2.9.2022
Lapses: 3.12.2022