Wholesale gas prices jump as much as 25%

Liquefied natural gas ship at Wilhelmshaven in  Germany

Prices of European wholesale gas spiked by 25% on Wednesday, signalling potentially bad news for household and business utility bills later this year, if the price increases stick.

The sudden increase was driven by fears over supplies of liquefied natural gas from Australia which are threatened by strike vote, experts said, and come despite European storage levels for next winter already filling rapidly.