Mickoski: Energy situation in Europe is 'severely alarming', government will seek creative solutions
At the opening of the "Lavche" kindergarten in Indzhikovo, Mickoski pointed to nuclear outages, low water and depleted gas stores as drivers of record prices.
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski warned that the energy situation across Europe is “severely alarming” and getting worse day by day, speaking at the opening of the "Lavche" kindergarten in Indzhikovo, Skopje.
He pointed to a combination of factors behind the pressure on energy markets: offline nuclear plants, low river and reservoir levels, and depressed gas inventories, all contributing to record-high power exchange prices and rising gas costs.
Prices and recent trends
“The situation in Europe is severely alarming. When I say severely alarming, nuclear power plants are out, water levels are low, gas storage levels are low, and exchange prices are really at historic highs, at 400–500, and even more euros per megawatt-hour. The same applies to gas. And this has been happening continuously from about the second half of August month, now we are, here, already almost in the middle of November. And not only is the situation not calming down, but on the contrary, it is worsening, day by day prices are rising. Yesterday I followed the gas price and this morning it went again above 90 euros per megawatt-hour, it dropped to around 80 euros last week, now it is again above 90 euros per megawatt-hour,” Mickoski said.
He noted that the price dynamics have persisted since late August and described gas costs as roughly three times higher than at the same time last year.
Mickoski added that the government will pursue creative solutions to protect citizens' living standards as energy markets evolve, and framed the remarks as part of efforts to explain the external factors driving domestic price pressures.
Photo: Vlada)
