Coal stoves and wood thieves: Europe braces for winter without Russian gas | Gas

 

BERLIN — Jörg Mertens was aware that the European energy market had been hit hard by the West's conflict with Russia. But he was shocked by his August expenses.

His electricity bill had increased by 70%.

Coal stoves and wood thieves: Europe braces for winter without Russian gas | Gas

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The 60-year-old Munich resident remarked, "I'm terrified," his voice breaking. During Germany's worst spell of inflation since the 1970s, the additional costs—about $190 a month for energy and heat, compared to $112 before—will leave him with $366 a month for food, medications, and transportation.

Mertens, a person with a spinal condition who relies on a set early pension, stated, "I'll have to buy less food. "How will I pay the rent in the winter?"

Withholding supplies, according to the Europeans, to punish the West for putting sanctions on Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin is blowing a bomb on consumers in some of the richest nations on earth. Ratepayers in the hardest-affected countries, such as Germany, Britain, Italy, and the Netherlands, have been faced with increases of up to 210 percent year over year, despite warnings from officials and analysts about the possibility of rationing and winter blackouts.

While schools in Britain issue a warning that they can no longer afford new textbooks due to growing energy costs, cash-strapped residents are dumping their pets. As Poles explore burning trash for heat in the winter, authorities in Poland are considering distributing anti-smog masks. Residents of old West Berlin in Germany are cleaning out their coal and wood-burning ovens, which were originally a form of energy supply insurance during the Cold War.

Several European nations are experiencing a lack of firewood and skyrocketing prices for this last-resort fuel. Logs are being stolen from truck beds by thieves who see an opportunity, and con artists are building up phoney websites and selling timber to unsuspecting customers. In many nations, the supply of wood-burning stoves and furnaces has virtually run out.

Franz Lüninghake, 62, a systems administrator in Bremen, Germany, who has a wood-burning furnace on back order, declared that "firewood is the new gold." His projected annual energy expense is $4,500, up from $1,500 for the year ending in May.

As Berliners upgrade their old heaters and install new ones, Norbert Skrobek, a licenced technician who dons a vintage outfit to inspect and advice on wood- and coal-burning furnaces, has noticed an increase in demand. He worries that a rush of residents purchasing portable heaters could result in risky carbon monoxide leaks if they are installed or used incorrectly.

This winter, he predicted, "I'm convinced we're going to have to carry some individuals out horizontally."

European countries have been rushing to fill reserves, cut back on use, find alternatives to Russian natural gas, all while promising consumers and businesses hundreds of billions of euros in financial relief. The German government is even taking steps to add hundreds of thousands of individuals on the housing welfare lists in an effort to stop the economic haemorrhage.

However, it is unclear that these measures would completely offset the much higher expenses, leading analysts to issue dire warnings about an increase in poverty, the devastation of the middle class, rising public debt, and worsening environmental degradation.

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The primary cause of rising prices is the reduction in Russian natural gas exports, which is needed to fuel electricity grids and heat houses throughout much of Europe. However, this has been made worse by further hurdles, such as the planned shutdown of French nuclear power stations to address corrosion. The public has been cautioned by French officials to get ready for the potential of rolling blackouts later this year. The Eiffel Tower, a towering lantern that often illuminates the City of Lights until 1 a.m., must be shut off by 11:45 p.m. in order to conserve electricity.

Consumers are experiencing sticker shock when they open their energy bills from Naples to Nuremberg, Germany.

"Putin has exploited every opportunity. Klaus Müller, chairman of Germany's energy regulator, told The Washington Post that as a result, every reduction in Russian gas supplies caused price increases. That represents the cost of this conflict.

Through taxes and levies on their electricity bills, Europeans were already contributing to the transition to renewable energy sources, paying on average more than their American counterparts. That distance has grown now. As winter draws closer, the continent's commitment to impose sanctions to punish Russia for invading Ukraine may be put to the test.

The issue of rising costs has become a focal point for European political groups with intimate ties to Moscow, casting doubt on the sanctions' wisdom in nations that are already suffering from high inflation. Italians are paying too much, according to Matteo Salvini, the head of the right-wing League party and a member of the coalition expected to win this month's national elections. Meanwhile, Germany's largely pro-Russian far right is inciting a "winter of wrath" and urging ratepayers to protest catastrophic energy prices by taking to the streets.

According to German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, "enemies of democracy are just waiting to exploit the situation to disseminate doomsday fantasies, dread, and doubt." "Fueling the worries of people who are being affected particularly hard by rising prices is irresponsible."

Consumers in Europe are becoming more and more desperate as we approach an uncertain winter.

According to a recent survey, roughly one in four Britons planned to turn off the heat this winter. Unlike several of its neighbours in Europe, the nation does not rely heavily on Russian natural gas, which accounts for less than 4% of its total supply. But the high costs brought on by shortages elsewhere have upended its energy sector. In the year leading up to July, domestic gas prices increased by 96% and electricity costs by 54%.

Consumer energy costs will be frozen for two years, the prime minister announced last week. This was her first significant declaration as leader of the government. According to the government, the average household would save more than $1000 annually compared to commercial rates by paying no more than $2,885 annually.

Brickyard Bakery owner Ed Trewhitt, 55, of Guisborough, England, said it won't be enough to save his company. He claimed that if energy prices continue to rise, he will have to shut down the next year. His monthly operating expenses for his bread oven have risen in the past year to $2,300. In addition to Britain's skyrocketing inflation, which is at a 40-year high, that increase is also sharp.

"Energy costs are exorbitant, but everything. "My flour expenses alone have increased by 80% in the past year," claimed Trewhitt. It simply cannot be sustained.

It won't be enough to rescue his company, according to Ed Trewhitt, 55, the proprietor of Brickyard Bakery in Guisborough, England. He claimed that he will have to shut down the following year if energy prices continue to rise. Over the past year, the price to operate his bread oven has risen to $2,300 each month. Inflation in Britain is at a 40-year high and is rising at an even faster rate than that one.

The devastating cost of energy is everything, though. The price of my flour alone has increased by 80% in the past year, according to Trewhitt. It's simply not viable.

Kelemen predicted that the solution would involve setting furniture ablaze.

According to Götz Bülow von Dennewitz, the count in charge of managing the area's forests, there has been an increase in wood theft in the forests around Stuttgart, Germany.

He claimed that the individuals "drive in with a trailer or a tractor, a loading truck, and a crane, have professional equipment, saw the items together, and drive them out." "Audacity wins out."

Authorities have issued warnings that burning wood is not environmentally friendly due to illegal cutting and emissions from older ovens. But many people feel like they don't have much of a choice in this place.

Authorities have issued advisories that burning wood is not environmentally beneficial due to unlawful cutting and emissions from antiquated ovens. However, a lot of people feel like they don't have much of a choice these days.

Germany, which is lurching toward recession, is filling up its gas reserves earlier than expected. However, hardships could still result from a brutally severe winter. According to officials, rationing would prioritise the needs of the public over those of business.

This month, the German government also unveiled a 65 billion euro rescue package — its third in seven months — to assist suffering households while pledging to recover excessive provider profits.

Analysts warn that millions may not benefit significantly from the deal. Germans will be responsible for covering the costs since aid payments won't start until December. And for many, the one-time checks won't be enough to offset the price increases, according to Christoph Butterwegge, a specialist on poverty.

Coal stoves and wood thieves: Europe braces for winter without Russian gas.

The rate of energy poverty, which is defined in Germany as anyone paying more than 10% of net income for electricity and heat, is expected to increase as many German households are predicted to spend 20 to 30% of their wages on energy by winter.

Poor people will have to decide between cold or starving, according to Butterwegge.

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Mertens should receive about $300 from the new package in December, but that won't be enough to make up for the additional $390 in energy bills he'll incur in the interim. He'll be charged at least $78 more per month beginning in January unless prices decrease or the government intervenes once more. If prices continue to rise, more.

It's cash that he lacks. Although more affluent families might manage, he lives on the edge, where every penny counts. It boils down to making compromises like consuming less food and soap or forgoing the purchase of new winter boots for him.

Such ideas, he declared. They attack you with a hot wave that leaves you gasping for oxygen.

On a recent morning, Vinzenz Schönfelder, a 41-year-old physicist from Berlin's Kreuzberg district, observed Skrobek inspecting his vintage white and gold furnace. The wood-burning oven, constructed in the 1880s but abandoned for many years, is Schönfelder's backup in the unlikely event that Germany runs out of heating gas this winter.

The fact that the power supply is unstable is what most frightens us, he said.

He cited his upbringing in East Germany as a place where people were more prepared for sporadic blackouts. "I last felt this [uncertainty] as a child in the 1980s," the speaker said.

He dislikes how Germans are once more being drawn into what he perceives to be a conflict between Washington and Moscow.

According to him, the sanctions "haven't stopped the war, and they haven't significantly damaged Russia." At the same time, they have severely damaged Germany.