Anyone who got up this morning noticed it immediately: the temperatures went seriously below freezing last night and will remain there this morning as well. It ensures that the heating in most places has to run a lot harder than in recent days.
We also see this in the (provisional) figures of gas consumption in our country. A dashboard from ENTSOG, the European federation of gas network operators, shows that more than 21.6 million kWh/h of natural gas was consumed in our country this morning between 07:00 and 08:00. That is the highest peak consumption in an hour of this winter and last winter 2021-2022. It is almost two years ago (winter 2020-2021), from the morning of February 13, 2021, that so much natural gas was forced through the Belgian pipelines in one hour.
Then, in the second week of February 2021, the RMI recorded daily averages between 0° and -5° Celsius. With similar forecasts for this week, the question is how fiercely we can all keep gas consumption under control. Although the European electricity network is currently under particular pressure. Due to the cold, the unavailability of France’s nuclear reactors and the low availability of renewable power such as solar and wind energy, traders are warning “for the most difficult week of the year”, with electricity prices soaring.