Soaring gas prices have caused pain to households and businesses across Europe in recent weeks.

And it's got EU leaders taking action.

On Tuesday (October 5) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a summit at the end of the month to look at setting up an EU strategic gas reserve.

As well as ways to decouple electricity prices from gas prices.

"Gas, we are heavily dependent of imports, 90% of gas is being imported, 97% of oil is imported to the European Union so we are very much dependent on the suppliers. And what is the reason for the rise in gas prices? Of course globally the economies are picking up, so the price is rising, but the supply is not rising accordingly."

Von der Leyen said the surge in electricity prices for European consumers was mainly a result of much more expensive gas as global demand picked up, adding that not all suppliers have helped:

"So we are very grateful that Norway is stepping up its production now, but this does not seem to be the case for example in Russia. And therefore in the very end, for the mid and long-term it's very clear we have to invest in the European Green Deal, in the renewables - this is our production, we are independent, they are stable in the price and good for the future."

Critics accuse Russia of failing to supply Europe with enough gas at a critical moment.

The Kremlin strongly denies the charge, and says it's meeting all its commitments.

Now the commission says the EU must invest in renewable sources of energy to help make it more independent and stabilise prices.

But that more immediate steps would be the subject of the summit of leaders towards the end of the month.