Keeping the lights on in Europe will be very hard this winter

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a sartorial sojourn through Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here. Electricity traders are terrified a [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a sartorial sojourn through Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [Electricity traders are terrified]( about what winter has in store. - Franz Kafka would be impressed by [the bureaucratic torment]( the US inflicts on expats. - [Protecting our plonk]( from the climate crisis. - The [BBQ bubble]( has burst. In the Bleak Midwinter In Kosovo, [the power goes off every six hours](. It’s the first European country to suffer rolling outages as the energy crisis escalates. In an effort to avoid that fate, Europeans are [taking colder showers](, offices are turning down thermostats and stores are dimming their lights. In the UK, waiting times for [new solar installations have more than doubled]( as householders try to power their own homes ahead of [an 80% surge](in retail bills. But Javier Blas has some good news about the coming winter after listening in on conversations between electricity traders and the managers of the UK national grid. Ha, [no he doesn’t](. Here’s a sample of questions asked recently on the weekly call between those on the front lines of the energy market and the executives responsible for keeping the lights on: - “Are you war-gaming possible options for if/when cross-border trading collapses under security of supply pressures this winter?” - “Can we have a session where we talk through the emergency arrangements?” - “If a system-stress event is active in both gas and power, how do the electricity system operator and gas control center communicate? Which stress event takes priority?” Energy prices across Europe have surged. On Friday, European natural gas was headed for its biggest weekly gain in over two months, with prices rising for a sixth consecutive week as Moscow squeezes supplies. German benchmark power prices for next year rose above 800 euros ($800) per megawatt hour, nearly 10 times higher than the same period last year. French year-ahead power rose above 1,000 euros for the first time. UK day-ahead electricity is trading at 10 times its two-decade average. Javier has three takeaways from the teleconferences he’s listened to. First, the looming power crisis is worse than industry executives publicly acknowledge, and a lot more dangerous than governments admit. Second, high prices are a big problem, but security of supply is at risk, too. Third, time is running out to make emergency preparations before temperatures start to drop.  “Imagine being able to overhear conversations between Wall Street executives and the Federal Reserve as the global financial crisis unfolded in 2008,” Javier writes. “European governments have a duty to come clean with their voters about the magnitude of the coming crisis.” Bonus Energy Market Reading: OPEC+ creates [its own volatility](: Elements by Liam Denning Caught in an Expat Tax Trap The Beatles knew a thing or three about tax: If you drive a car, I'll tax the street If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet Taxman! Even the Fab Four, though, would have been appalled at a case currently before the US Supreme Court, which has to decide whether a Romanian businessman called Alexandru Bittner owes the Internal Revenue Service $50,000, or $10,000 for each of the five years in which he failed to file his accounts with US authorities, or $2.72 million, equal to $10,000 for each account that should have been declared each year. Bittner’s crime — if you can call it that — was to have dual Romanian/US citizenship. The authorities acknowledge that his failure to disclose his accounts was unintentional. But because the US has a system of citizen-based taxation, making it the only country in the world apart from Eritrea to determine tax status and liability by passport rather than residence, [Bittner finds himself potentially on the hook for a multimillion dollar fine](, writes Andreas Kluth. “The first amount is painful, the second ruinous — and, frankly, insane,” Andreas argues. “Alexandru Bittner shouldn’t be financially ruined just because he made unintentional errors while he lived abroad.” Hopefully, the nine justices on the Supreme Court will agree. The Heat Is on Winemakers Surging temperatures pose a particular risk to the world’s winemakers. The climate crisis could destroy production in much of Europe in the coming decades, including central Italy and southern France. Yields in California may plunge by as much as 70%. So one California-based winery is fighting back with [aggressive strategies to protect its vineyards](, writes Amanda Little. Jackson Family Wines has a stable of brands including Kendall Jackson and La Crema. It’s using a combination of old-school techniques and modern technology to maintain production across its 10,000 acres. It plans to control pests using owls and falcons, introduce cover crops such as rye and barley between vine rows, and help the soil retain moisture and absorb carbon dioxide using compost made from waste including grape skins. Data from satellites and drones will monitor droughts, while sanitizing fermentation tanks with ultraviolet light instead of water will save millions of gallons of water a year. “All wineries will have to adapt,” Amanda says. “Agricultural ministers in every wine-producing country will need to help fund both traditional and technological solutions to support the transition.” Telltale Charts About a year ago, with demand for outdoor cooking appliances surging, a bunch of grill companies went public. But [the BBQ bubble has burst](, Chris Bryant points out. “The trend of stay-at-home foodies pimping up their decking with a luxury charcoal grill, smoker or egg-shaped kamado has stalled as rapidly as it began,” he writes. Further Reading Forgiving student debts is a bad idea — [just ask India](. — Mihir Sharma [Inflation’s winners]( need to help out the losers. — Thomas Black In search of political salvation, Brazil’s Bolsonaro deploys [his wife and her prayers](. — Clara Ferreira Marques ICYMI Waterways around the globe [have dried to a trickle]( as the climate crisis produces droughts and heat waves. The [world’s most popular password manager]( says it was hacked. Think the crypto market’s real peak value was $3 trillion? [Try $875 billion instead](. Germany’s [Audi will join Formula 1]( motor racing in 2026 with a car running on synthetic fuel. Kickers Medieval monks were [riddled with worms](, University of Cambridge study finds. Coleen Rooney signs multimillion-pound deal with Disney+ for a documentary about [the Wagatha Christie trial](. (h/t Andrea Felsted)  Neckerchiefs are useful, stylish, rebellious, and [a sartorial risk worth taking](. Allegedly. Notes: Please send red neckerchiefs and complaints to Mark Gilbert at magilbert@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. 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