Hundreds of bakeries in Germany sell bread and pastries in the dark to turn the spotlight on sky-high energy bills

• About 800 bakeries in Germany went dark on Thursday as a cry for help over energy costs.
• Customers had to sit in the dark to eat their sandwiches and pastries, NDR reported.

Hundreds of bakeries in Germany sold their bread and buns in the dark on Thursday in protest over skyrocketing energy costs as Russia turns the screws on supplies of natural gas.

Since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February, energy prices have soared because the Kremlin reduced its flows of natural gas to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in response to Western sanctions. It's forced governments and some businesses to reduce power consumption.

The German guild association Bäcker- und Konditorenvereinigung Nord e.V. (BKV) said in a statement this week that about 800 bakeries in northern Germany would turn the lights off on Thursday. It's part of a campaign to make the German government aware that the energy crisis threatens bakeries, BKV said.

The bakeries were still open, but customers had to sit in the dark to eat their sandwiches and pastries, German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) reported, with only the front displays lit up.

A baker in Hamburg who switched the lights off in the shop on Thursday told NDR it was hard to afford higher. energy prices on top of labor and ingredients.

Bakeries have been hard hit by higher energy costs as ovens and refrigeration systems use a lot of power, BKV said.

"Our lights are turning off — today it's the light and tomorrow it will be the oven?" the guild wrote as its campaign slogan.

The BKV said that bakeries cannot offset the predicted increases in gas and electricity prices on their own. The cost of flour and other ingredients have also risen over the past few months, making it more difficult for bakeries to afford to stay open, the guild said in a press release.

Bakeries want to be eligible for subsidies from the EnergieKostenDämpfungsProgramm (EKDP), which helps companies fund the increased energy costs, the BKV added.

"It is unacceptable that the production of, for example, vermouth or wallpaper is eligible, but bakeries are excluded," the guild said.