The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has unveiled legislation to impose windfall levies worth $140bn on energy companies. This legislation is a bid to lessen the effects of increasing gas and electricity prices that have threatened economies and household electricity bills.
The legislation was announced in her State of the European Union speech and von der Leyen outlined a structural reform of the European energy market. Von der Leyen explained that paying electricity bills has become a struggle for businesses and households after gas prices have increased 10 times over in the past two years. This speech also came after Russia announced earlier this month that it would not reopen its main gas pipeline, the Nord Stream 1, to supply Europe. The Commission proposed to cap the revenues of companies that produce electricity at low costs and proposed that fossil fuel companies will have to give a crisis contribution.
Read More: EU chief proposes energy market reform, $140bn revenue cap
