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High energy costs hit customers with a delay
Photo: Malorny/Getty Images
With a view to the risk of a gas supply stop from Russia, the federal government is already calling for energy saving as a precaution.
But experts fear that many consumers underestimate the seriousness of the situation.
In dealing with the gas crisis, the Federal Network Agency has now spoken out in favor of not confronting private households with rising costs too late.
"Many households will only notice how much the price has risen when they get their heating bill next year and will not be able to cope with the additional payments," said the head of the authorities, Klaus Müller, to the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung".
“If the deductions are not increased until next year, many people will be unprepared.” When dealing with gas shortages, price signals such as higher deductions are more effective than appeals to do without.
Even before the start of the Ukraine war, private households in Germany had to pay more for gas and electricity.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, a kilowatt hour of natural gas cost an average of 6.83 cents in the second half of 2021.
That was 6.6 percent more than in the first six months of the year.
During the same period, electricity prices rose by 0.8 percent to an average of 32.87 cents per kilowatt hour.
Energy had already become more expensive as part of the global economic recovery after the corona crisis.
The Russian attack on Ukraine is now fueling prices even further.
Authority faces a difficult task
The war has also increased the risk that Russia could cut gas supplies.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) therefore announced the early warning level of the gas emergency plan on Wednesday.
At a later stage, the Federal Network Agency would have to decide whether to switch off gas users.
Authority chief Müller criticized the expectation that the Federal Network Agency should now determine the order in which the industry should turn off the gas tap in an emergency.
"It won't work," he said.
Too many boundary conditions are open for this.
The network agency will now define positive criteria.
But that too is complex because of the interdependence of the economy.
The authority is in talks with the industry to find out the exact gas requirements.
After the so-called early warning level of the gas emergency plan, which has now been declared, there is another alarm level and finally an emergency level in which active intervention is carried out.
The Federal Network Agency then decides who will receive how much gas.
Private consumers and social institutions enjoy special protection.
Employers criticize the prioritization of private households
However, the employers' association Gesamtmetall spoke out against giving preference to private households in an emergency.
"Nobody would be served if people were sitting at home in their apartments at 24 degrees, but the companies in which they work were collapsing," warned Gesamtmetall President Stefan Wolf in an interview with the "Augsburger Allgemeine".
The network agency must therefore reconsider its order of gas shutdown in an emergency.
Wolf warned of the "biggest economic slump in the post-war period" if the industry was forced to shut down on a large scale due to a lack of gas supplies.
He then expects that short-time work will increase dramatically and that some companies will have to lay off employees.
It is not only in Germany that the government and authorities are working to reduce dependence on Russian energy supplies.
In Dutch authorities, the thermostats are now turned down by two degrees Celsius.
The government wants to set a good example in this way, the ANP news agency reported.
"Put on socks"
"Our energy bill is rising, we have to become less dependent on gas from Russia, and we want to tackle climate change," says a nationwide energy-saving appeal by the Dutch government on the same day.
In newspaper advertisements and via an online campaign, citizens are being asked not to set the heating in their homes to more than 19 degrees.
"Put on a warm jacket or sweater, socks and slippers," the Dutch are advised.
And: »If you are active at home, the thermostat can perhaps be turned down a degree.«
mmq/dpa/AFP
