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ThyssenKrupp Steelworks in Duisburg
Photo: Marcel Kusch / dpa
If Russian gas supplies are stopped, the energy companies fear claims for damages in the billions from companies that can no longer be adequately supplied with gas.
The suppliers are said to have asked for binding criteria at a confidential meeting with the Federal Network Agency, according to which the authority decides on the supply to industrial companies in an emergency.
So far, the national gas emergency plan has only provided for private households to be given priority when the gas pressure drops.
Industrial companies, on the other hand, must expect rationing or shutdowns.
The Federation of German Industries (BDI) and the Federation of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), which are currently in talks with the Federal Network Agency about preparing for an emergency, had previously made it clear that they would not name any specific companies to the authority who could be cut off from supplies or rationed.
Some factories cannot be shut down
In three working groups, associations and authorities now want to develop criteria for shutdowns and clarify technical and legal details.
It should be relevant here whether factories can be shut down at all, whether essential products such as food or medicines are involved, or those that are urgently needed elsewhere in the supply chain.
BDEW Managing Director Kerstin Andreae had already asked the government on Thursday to announce the early warning level, which they rejected.
The move was apparently intended to speed up the preparations.
"We have to talk Tacheles," Andreae is said to have said before in a video round.