London (CNN Business) - Millions of people in the United Kingdom are steeling themselves for colossal rises to their energy bills over the next few months, a coda to a year already marked by record price increases.

The crisis is not unique to the country. Prices have shot up across Europe since last fall, driven by a spike in demand as countries lifted pandemic lockdowns. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, and the subsequent drop in Moscow's oil and natural gas exports to Europe, have pushed prices even higher.

But UK energy prices are now higher than in comparable economies like France and Italy, analysts told CNN Business. And Brits have suffered much bigger price increases than in most European countries, including Germany, where decades of energy policy has been turned on its head by the Ukraine war.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/19/energy/energy-prices-uk-europe-explainer/index.html