Bloomberg Portugal plans to lower the value-added tax rate to 6% from 13% for a certain amount of electricity use as the government tries to help consumers face rising costs for energy and other goods. The decision will take effect in October, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said at a press conference in Lisbon on Monday evening. Other steps presented …

  Bloomberg Italy is targeting a reduction in natural gas consumption through the winter season by increasing the use of coal, turning down heating across the country, and pushing to change citizens’ habits, according to a document circulated by the ministry for ecological transition. As the country faces the prospect of paying twice as much for energy imports as it …

  Bloomberg South Africa announced its first rolling blackouts in almost three weeks, hours after the nation’s statistics office published data that showed economy contracted in second quarter when was hit by record power outages. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. will implement so-called stage-2 loadshedding, where it cuts 2,000 megawatts from the grid, until September 10. If the utility sticks to …