An emergency meeting of European energy ministers is taking place to thrash out details of a plan to cut soaring electricity prices by intervening in the energy market.
In advance of Friday's meeting, diplomats said many countries, including the largest economies of the European Union, Germany and France, had agreed to impose a cap on nuclear, renewable, and non-gas electricity producers' revenues, redistributing the money to consumers and businesses.
Additionally, a temporary cap on the price of natural gas imports from Russia and a plan to cut electricity use during peak demand this winter are being discussed, as some governments want the price cap extended to other types of gas as well.
In addition, ministers want to extend emergency credit to traders or change the rules for collateral required for electricity trading in order to prevent high prices from upending markets.
As Moscow cuts gas deliveries to Europe, EU governments are tightening their grip on the region's energy markets.
The talks come after national governments imposed price caps on energy producers in response to fears of social unrest and factory shutdowns.
From nuclear-energy-reliant France to a few central European countries that still consume a lot of Russian gas, governments are looking to craft emergency policies across the 27-nation bloc.
The debate centres on Germany, the EU's largest economy, which relied on Russian gas for decades.
The Nord Stream pipeline, the main artery for natural-gas deliveries, has been shut down indefinitely by Moscow, resulting in idle factories and higher electricity and gas prices.
"Nothing is a non-starter now," said Vaclav Bartuska, special envoy for energy security for the Czech Republic.
In recent months, Bartuka believes government officials' perception of how to address the energy crisis has evolved rapidly.
According to him, proposals to redistribute companies' windfall revenue "was crazy in June, it was fringe in July, and it was mainstream in August."
Confusion remains, however, about who will decide how the money is used and whether it should be directed through a country's government or go straight to citizens and businesses.