Getting energy prices back to pre-Ukraine war levels will take years, according to the boss of one of the world's biggest energy firms.
Francesco Starace, of Italian group Enel, said bringing prices down depends on new sources of energy, such as renewables and heat pumps.
Governments across Europe are spending billions helping business and households afford energy bills.
They are also scrambling to secure new supplies.
Mr Starace told the BBC his company, which produces and distributes electricity and gas, tried to shield its 20million European customers from energy-market volatility this year.
It did its best to stick to the fixed-price contracts it had agreed, he said.
'Greater damage'
Breaking customer trust would inflict greater damage on the firm than a hit on one year's results, he said.
The Italian company sells power to more than 70million homes and businesses in over 30 countries.
But Enel is planning to leave many of those countries as it focuses on renewable energy and becoming carbon neutral by 2040.
It is investing heavily in making solar panels as it expands an existing factory in Sicily and builds a new one in the US.
Soaring energy prices have been the biggest contributor to inflation and the cost of living crisis in the UK, the US and the eurozone.
The global energy crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine "showed very clearly how dependence on one single source of energy is dangerous for Europe", said Mr Starace.
Extremely decarbonised
The future will be "extremely decarbonised" and depend on nuclear and renewable energy, he said.
However, that shift to renewables also has risks.
In July, the International Energy Agency said that China's dominance of solar and wind turbine production creates "potential challenges that governments need to address".
Mr Starace said the West has been over-reliant on China for renewables and other goods.
"Some rebalancing needs to be happening because it is healthy," he said, when asked about geopolitical tensions interfering with energy supplies.
This has helped drive Enel's investment in solar panels, although the expansion of the Sicilian factory will still meet only 10% of Europe's needs, he said.
Russian oil-price cap
- A cap on the price of Russian oil will restrict Russia's revenues for its "illegal war in Ukraine", the US says.
The cap, approved by Western allies, is aimed at stopping countries paying more than $60 (£48) for a barrel of seaborne Russian crude oil.
The BBC says the measure - due to come into force today - intensifies Western pressure on Russia over the invasion.
Ukraine said the Western-proposed cap should be halved.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would "not accept" the price cap. It would not supply to countries enforcing it.