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Winter Is Already Over for Europe's Energy Markets

February temperatures were closer to the normal for early April, and that’s sent natural gas and electricity prices tumbling.

People relax on the grass as the sun shines, in Green Park in central London on February 26, 2019, 

People relax on the grass as the sun shines, in Green Park in central London on February 26, 2019, 

Photographer: NIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP
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Winter is already finished for Europe’s energy markets, where the cost of electricity and the fuels that make it have been plunging for the past few weeks.

Unseasonably warm temperatures across the continent have slashed demand for heating, prompting power contracts to tumble and making natural gas and coal unprofitable to burn in some places.  Temperatures in Britain topped 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit) earlier this week. That's a sharp contrast from a year ago, when a cold snap known as the ``Beast from the East'' sent gas prices to their highest in at least a decade.