Irish MEP Ciarán Cuffe has called for the European Commission to set up an Energy Crisis Fund to help consumers cope with high-energy costs, and to invest in home energy upgrades to reduce energy use in the years ahead.Speaking at the European Parliament’s ITRE (Energy) Committee this morning Mr. Cuffe said:“In a crisis we must act decisively, and good work has been done with the REPower EU Plan. However, we now must speed up the clean energy transition, and wean ourselves off gas and oil dependency.“Energy poverty is real and will affect hundreds of millions of EU citizens this winter. In my home country of Ireland, seven in 10 households could be in energy poverty this winter if recent trends continue. Those same households are already struggling in a cost-of-living crisis. We must act to protect them and all vulnerable households across Europe. It is time for an Energy Crisis Fund at EU level to tackle the cost of living and the climate crises, funded from a windfall tax on oil and gas company profits.“Fossil gas companies are making record profits while consumers are struggling to pay their basic energy bills. Shell reported record profits of €11.3 billion for the period of April to June this year alone. These companies must contribute from their record profits to assisting hard-pressed householders.We must also increase our ambition in the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive for which I am the rapporteur, and we must initiate reforms of the EU’s electricity markets to decouple gas and electricity prices. A temporary price cap may also be required that is targeted towards vulnerable households.This crisis will reach into nearly every home in Europe this winter. We must respond with workable and robust solutions that are proportionate to the sheer scale of the crisis that we are facing.ENDS