Industry steps up pressure on EU to cut energy prices

By Kate Abnett

ANTWERP, Belgium, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Top business leaders urged the European Union on Wednesday to act urgently to bring down energy prices, saying that was key for European industries to compete with the U.S. and China.

The industries' message is timed to land just before EU leaders gather in a Belgian castle on Thursday for an informal "retreat" to thrash out a plan for how Europe can compete economically with China and the U.S.

"Why is Europe so much behind compared to the rest of the world? It's the energy situation," Swiss specialty chemicals maker Clariant CLN.S CEO Conrad Keijzer told Reuters as corporate leaders gathered for a meeting in the Belgian city of Antwerp.

Asked what his main message to EU leaders was, Jon Morrish, CEO for Europe of Heidelberg Materials , told Reuters: "Number one, on energy prices, that they must come down. They must take us seriously, and they must realize that that is really hampering Europe's competitiveness."

The loss of cheap Russian gas imports following Moscow's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine hiked bills for many energy-intensive industries. Congested power grids, national taxes and the EU's CO2 emissions price also contribute to power prices - which for industries in Europe are more than double those in the U.S. and China.

"The pricing structure for power is a big challenge," said Morrish, adding that cement maker Heidelberg, whose home market is Germany, was starting to move some investments out of Europe due to high energy prices.

NO QUICK FIX

Companies complain that EU leaders have failed to tackle energy prices head-on, despite years of warnings. Some also acknowledge there is no quick fix, in part because modernising power grids to ensure that cheaper low-carbon energy can flow freely across the bloc will take years.

The EU's electricity system is designed so that the last power plant needed to meet total demand sets the power price. Often, that is a natural gas plant - leaving many consumers exposed to gas prices, which are significantly higher in Europe than in the U.S.

Yet political will to change that system is scarce. EU governments decided against redesigning the market when they updated the EU's energy rules in 2024. They have also failed for five years to find the unanimous approval needed to reform EU-level energy tax rules, designed to give low-carbon sources an advantage.

Philippe Kehren, CEO of chemicals multinational Solvay SOLB.BR, said the sector now wanted leaders to intervene directly to guarantee stable power prices - potentially by setting a regulated price for industry.

"I don't see any other option, frankly speaking. ... Industries cannot cope with super-volatile, high-level electricity prices," he told Reuters.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said at the Antwerp summit that EU countries needed to better link up their power grids, and said that the bloc still wanted to change tax rules to bring down energy bills.

"While energy costs are going down, national taxes on energy are going up. And the taxes that industry pays on electricity are 15 times higher than taxes on gas. This is just wrong," she said.

The Commission also recommended last year that governments cut their national taxes on energy as a quick way to bring down bills. But EU officials say that request has found little support among heads of state struggling to increase public funds for defence and other priorities.