Exclusive: Electricity bills in Germany and France rose by €700 million during record heatwave

Exclusive: Heatwaves are showing up on Europe’s energy bills – should fossil fuels face a windfall tax? Europe’s climate change-fuelled heatwave has added more than €700 million to electricity bills in France and Germany alone in just one week, according to new analysis by environmental NGO 350.org. Heatwaves drive up demand for cooling and with increased electricity consumption comes higher prices. Comparing 21-27 June 2026 – when record heat gripped much of western Europe – against a baseline of 14-20 June, the analysis shows that electricity prices rose by an estimated €371 million in Germany and €360 million in France. These extra costs come on top of elevated oil and gas prices due to the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz shipping route, which Iran closed in response to the US-Israel offensive launched against the country more than 100 days ago. “Fossil fuel companies continue to profit from the crises they helped create,” says Andreas Sieber, 350.org head of political strategy. “Governments should permanently tax excess fossil fuel profits and use the money to protect people from heat, bills and energy shocks.” Price spikes were highest in the evenings The analysis shows the price spikes were particularly acute in the evenings. For example, in Germany, power prices rose from €86 per megawatt-hour at midday to €566/MWh at 8pm last week, according to the analysis based on EU electricity price and load data. This is partly because the supply of cheap solar energy dips when the sun goes down, but temperatures and cooling demand remain high, especially on tropical nights. Separate data from real-time energy market newswire Montel News shows that power prices hit record highs on the evening of Tuesday 23 June, rising in Belgium to more than 10 times the average wholesale electricity price in the EU. The problem is made worse by heat-related efficiency losses for solar panels and gas plants. How a windfall tax on fossil fuels could cut bills The recent heatwave has broken records and led to 1,300 excess deaths across Europe, including a spate of drownings as people sought to cool off in unsupervised rivers and lakes. Besides the dangers to public health and impact on energy bills, it has also put a strain on agriculture, industry and infrastructure. A recent study by World Weather Attribution found that it would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change driven by fossil fuel emissions. A permanent windfall tax on oil and gas profits could fund climate adaptation and a just energy transition, 350.org argues – building on a model the EU has used before. After the energy shock that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the bloc introduced a temporary windfall tax on fossil fuel profits, known as the ‘solidarity contribution’, which raised €28 billion. This was largely used to support vulnerable households. Campaigners argue a permanent version of that tax could now help offset both the costs of the Strait of Hormuz crisis and the rising bill for extreme heat. “Stronger taxation on fossil fuel companies could pay for better equipping countries to deal with extreme weather, as well as moving us faster to renewables,” says Sieber. “European governments must act now to save lives and lower energy bills.”