Gas crisis: Hundreds of thousands of private gas boilers could fail
Created: 07/04/2022, 15:10
By: Jan-Frederik Wendt
The head of the Federal Network Agency warns of a drastic gas shortage in Germany.
Private gas boilers could also fail.
Kassel - As a result of the Ukraine conflict, hundreds of thousands of private gas boilers in Germany could soon fail.
Klaus Müller, head of the Federal Network Agency, warns against the
Funke media group
.
This scenario could occur if the pressure in the gas pipelines falls below a minimum in a region of Germany.
This drop in pressure could occur if local gas suppliers run out of gas.
They buy gas from wholesalers, who in turn obtain it from Russia, among others.
A few days ago, Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin could turn off the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline after maintenance work.
Then Germany would be faced with a drastic gas shortage.
Gas shortage in Germany: Federal Network Agency boss warns
In an emergency, the Federal Network Agency would order gas reductions in the industry, said Müller - to ward off such a pressure drop.
It is also conceivable that swimming pools heat their water less or not at all.
In addition, non-systemically important industry would have to go offline.
As an example, Müller cited a factory for chocolate biscuits.
Gas crisis: Federal Network Agency boss warns (symbolic photo).
© Hauke-Christian Dittrich/dpa
The problem with the gas boilers in private households: According to Müller, they have to be put back into operation manually by trained personnel.
"Nobody can want such a scenario because it would take a very long time to restore the gas supply," says Müller.
For the households in the affected region, this would mean that there would be no heating and no hot water for so long.
Every second apartment in Germany is heated with gas.
Another possibility is a massive price increase for end customers.
This is legally possible for all customers, even in existing contracts, since it is an emergency.
Due to the gas shortage, wholesalers and gas suppliers often have to buy gas more expensively than they can sell it to end customers.
The imbalance could worsen further, municipal utilities and wholesalers could slide into insolvency.
However, if gas prices were passed through, many private households would be faced with unpayable bills.
Müller speaks of a tripling of the bill, especially for those regions where Russian gas has been dominant so far.
(Jan Wendt)
Meanwhile, consumers could be nasty surprised by a new law.