An EU plan to cut gas consumption across the bloc by 15 percent to cope with an energy price crisis spurred by Russiaâs war in Ukraine comes into effect on Tuesday.
The EU regulation enshrining the plan agreed two weeks ago by the 27-nation bloc was published Monday in the European Unionâs official administrative gazette, with the stipulation it would take force from Tuesday.
âConsidering the imminent danger to the security of gas supply brought about by the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, this regulation should enter into force as a matter of urgency,â it said.
The aim is for the EU to be able to bolster its reserves of gas in time for what is likely to be a very tough winter. European households and businesses are being squeezed by skyrocketing energy prices and reduced Russian gas that several member states are dependent on.
The regulation said that EU countries âshall use their best effortsâ to cut gas consumption by âat least 15 percentâ between August this year and March next year, based on how much they used on average over the previous five years.
Some EU countries, though, had carve-outs from strictly following the rule, which was in any case termed a âvoluntary demand reductionâ.
These were countries not fully connected to the European electricity grid or with gas pipelines to other parts of the EU or unable to free up enough pipeline gas to help other member states.
Hungary, which relies on gas piped in directly from Russia, had demanded the exception.
Germany, the EUâs economic powerhouse, took a major share of the 40 percent of EU gas imports that came from Russia last year.
Should the European Commission see a âsevere gas supply shortageâ or exceptionally high gas demand emerging, it can ask EU countries to declare an alert for the bloc. That would make gas cuts binding and limit exceptions.
While the EU has not included Russian gas in its sanctions on Moscow for the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin has drastically cut supplies anyway in what Brussels seems as an attempt to strongarm Europe.