The wintry temperatures are eating away at German gas supplies. In just one day, the filling level was reduced by one percent. Bundesnetzagentur boss Müller is therefore calling for savings again – both in business and in private households.
Despite the freezing temperatures, the Federal Network Agency has once again urged the population to save gas. “Despite the cold, I would ask you to be careful with your gas consumption,” said the head of the authorities, Klaus Müller, on ZDF, addressing private households and the economy alike. Not every room has to be heated. You can also set the temperature a little lower. Germany is still “very, very far away” from a shortage.
The gas storage facilities in this country are currently well filled, according to the network agency, the filling level was 92.45 percent. The important Rehden storage facility was 91.48 percent full. At the moment, “predominantly being stored out”, so the stocks are becoming less.
On Monday, the withdrawal amounted to one percentage point – the highest daily value this winter. This is also due to the temperatures. December could be one of the coldest in the past ten years, said Müller, adding with regard to Monday’s withdrawal: “That should now remain an outlier.”
In both areas – both in the economy and in private households – the savings targets “that we have set ourselves” are currently not being achieved,” Müller continued. “It will become critical if we don’t achieve the minus 20 percent savings over the whole winter.”
Especially in the private sector, more gas is currently being consumed than hoped, said Müller on ZDF. That’s why it means: “Be careful with the heaters in your own four walls”. However, a shortage is not to be expected. Germany has “really well taken care of” to be able to compensate for the current additional consumption. However, this should not continue in January and February.
In order for a shortage to be avoided, according to the assessment of the network agency, three prerequisites are necessary: ??the savings target of 20 percent compared to the average consumption for the years 2018 to 2021 must be achieved, the LNG terminals must feed in as planned at the beginning of the year and the winter-related decline in Gas imports and increases in gas exports must be moderate.
Müller expressed skepticism about a price cap for gas purchases in the EU. “What would help us would be a European purchasing community,” he said, referring to the ability to push through lower prices. He is “very, very critical” of the gas price cap itself, because it could mean that not enough gas is available.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a similar statement. “There is no immediate solution,” he said in his government statement at the EU summit. The EU cannot “intervene in prices in such a way that too little gas is then supplied to Europe”. For months, the EU countries have been unable to agree on a price cap for gas that many member states are calling for in their search for measures to combat high energy prices. The EU Commission had presented a proposal that would introduce a price cap in wholesale under strict conditions.
The EU energy ministers tried again on Tuesday without success to reach an agreement on the issue. The EU summit beginning on Thursday should now deal with the topic. At the last meeting of the EU heads of state and government in October, there was only an agreement in principle to continue examining a price cap for gas.
