Prices going up

I use about 50 gallons of gasoline per month and gas is about $3.40 per gallon and my electric bill is $180 per month. During the past year gasoline prices in Europe have risen 500% and electric power cost have risen 600%. If that happens here my gas cost will increase $170 per month to $850 per month and my electric bill will increase from $180 per month to $1,080 per month. This gives you some idea why the Europeans are in bad shape. Here is an example from one German consumer. Henry Backhaus, 65, is among tens of thousands of Germans who were dropped by private energy companies that could not afford to buy wholesale electricity and gas at soaring rates. Under German law, the local utility was then required to step in, but it sent him a bill for 747 euros (nearly $850) a month — more than he had been paying for an entire year.