In the event of bottlenecks, who gets the gas first?
New plan on the table
Created: 05/03/2022, 14:06
By: Franziska Schwarz
Auction gas in the energy crisis?
© Axel Heimken/dpa
What if the gas runs out?
At first it seemed as if the federal government would allocate in this case.
An alternative approach, however, relies on the market.
Berlin - If Vladimir Putin turns off the gas tap, who will get the (still) coveted good in this country?
The German companies are meant.
The question has now apparently shifted from "who" to "how": The remaining gas is to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
The
Handelsblatt
reports this Tuesday (May 3).
According to information from the newspaper, the Ministry of Economics under Robert Habeck (Greens) and the network agency have been discussing the idea and its implementation for a month.
The
Handelsblatt
refers to an article of its own in which the economists Peter Cramton, Axel Ockenfels and Achim Wambach proposed such an auction of rationed gas.
The train of thought of the economists was that the traffic light coalition under Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) cannot know much about the companies.
Approximately:
How urgently does a company need gas?
Can it buy gas from other countries as a substitute?
Can it also use oil if necessary?
Can it move orders?
Or deploy workers elsewhere?
Gas distribution in Germany: "Who is allowed to participate in such an auction?"
A gas auction would not answer all of these questions, but it would at least answer the first one: Whoever bids the most needs the gas the most.
At least that's the train of thought - against which there are also objections.
The Handelsblatt
reports that large gas consumers like the auction idea
, as does the industry association Zukunft Gas.
The market knows best where gas is needed, quotes its boss Timm Kehler.
But the concrete implementation will be interesting: "What is the auction design like, how do you deal with regional differences, who may/must take part in such an auction?" he asked.
"Frequently dangerous": Criticism of the planned German gas auctions
Ludwig Veltmann, on the other hand, finds the idea “highly dangerous”.
He is the managing director of the Mittelstandsverbund.
In the Handelsblatt
he feared
that financially strong companies would use the gas auctions to buy hamsters.
Firms that were more in need would lose out.
Energy lawyer Franziska Lietz also warned in the article.
"Certain industries, such as meat or milk producers, often have little financial leeway," she said.
You would then be outbid.
Possible gas allocation: Private consumers protected by law
On March 30, Federal Minister of Economics Habeck called for the "early warning stage" of the "gas emergency plan" in view of the dispute with Russia.
The background is that the Kremlin is threatening to stop deliveries in case of doubt against the background of the Ukraine conflict.
Incidentally, private consumers are protected if gas is allocated by the network agency.
According to European regulations, private households as well as hospitals or nursing homes must be supplied first.
(frs)