LONDON/BRUSSELS, Nov 5: Europeans are paying the steepest energy bills in four years and face ever higher payments as governments pile on extra charges to help finance a 1 trillion euro modernisation of Europe’s energy infrastructure.

Politicians from Britain to Germany, Italy to Romania, under pressure from electorates squeezed by economic downturn, are promising to cap energy prices or at least draw their sting. Even so, consumers will continue to bear the bulk of the costs of replacing ageing power networks and kickstarting renewable energy projects.

The European Commission has estimated that infrastructure improvements will have cost a trillion euros by the end of the decade. Legally binding targets to lower carbon emissions by 2020 mean that energy markets need to become cleaner.—Reuters