WSJ: The European Commission will propose to reduce the demand for electricity by 15%

MOSCOW, Sep 1 — PRIME. The plan prepared by the European Commission to combat rising prices for electricity provides for limiting its cost from non-gas sources of production, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing a draft document.

At present, the European electricity market is structured in such a way that its price is determined by the level of the most expensive production – with the help of natural gas. The authors of the project want cheaper types of generation – from wind and solar energy to nuclear power plants – to be paid at lower prices. Then consumers will pay a price that reflects the mixed cost of electricity production in Europe.

The paper also proposes that the EC take measures on the electricity market that could be a “mirror image” of an earlier agreement “to reduce gas demand by 15%.”

One option to reduce demand for electricity could be auctions that would allow industrial consumers to be compensated in exchange for less consumption, the document says.

It is expected that the prepared recommendations will be considered at an extraordinary meeting of EU energy ministers on 9 September.