Fuel bills rise 400%

SWEDEN has fallen victim to the global energy crisis with power prices now five times higher than they were a year ago.

Dwindling water reservoirs have hampered the generation of green hydroelectric power, right, the nation’s most important source of electricity, while nuclear plants are running out of storage for their waste.

The crisis has forced the reopening of two oil-based power plants – one of them 52 years old – and one major utility supplier has already asked its industrial customers to conserve energy ahead of the bitterly cold Swedish winter.