More governments will need to intervene to relieve the strains on Europe’s power market, officials and industry figures have warned, after Sweden and Finland launched emergency backstops for their energy producers and UK electricity generators called on the British government to help.

The Nordic states this weekend both announced emergency financial liquidity measures for their energy generators, which are facing rapidly mounting calls for collateral as a result of extreme volatility in energy prices.

Russia’s announcement on Friday evening that it would no longer supply gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline is expected to trigger a sharp rise in energy prices when markets open on Monday morning, adding urgency to the pleas for government support.