The European Commission has announced plans which it says will cut energy bills for households and businesses by hundreds of billions of Euro per year.
The EU wants to help people struggling to pay their bills and to support industry burdened by high energy costs, which it says are more than double the US or China.
According to the EU, the plan will save €45 billion this year, rising to €130 billion per year in 2030 and €260 billion by 2040.
Announcing the new plan in Brussels, European Energy Commissioner, Dan Jørgensen, said it would be achieved through more efficiency, massive investment in renewables and the grid, and through the roll out of digitalisation and AI.
” the high energy prices are damaging our ability to compete. We pay 2-3 times more for our energy in our industries in Europe than our competitors in the US and China does.
At the same time, our populations, our citizens are struggling to pay their energy bills. Almost 47 million Europeans last year were not able to adequately heat their home.
This will obviously not stand. We need to lower our prices significantly”, said Dan Jørgensen.
The EU’s Action Plan for Affordable Energy will require the support of member states including Ireland.
Last year nearly half – around 47 percent – of the EU’s electricity supply came from renewables. The European Commission wants to see permits for new wind and solar farms sped up so that so that renewable energy generation can expand more quickly.