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Gas meter in a basement
Photo: IMAGO/Christoph Hardt / IMAGO/Future Image
From October 1st, gas will be even more expensive for private consumers in Germany: A levy of 2.419 cents per kilowatt hour will then be due – plus VAT (read more here).
This is to prevent gas importers from going bankrupt because of severely curtailed supplies from Russia.
In order to cushion the rising costs for consumers, Chancellor Olaf Scholz apparently wants to launch another relief package in the near future.
However, it is still unclear what it will look like in concrete terms.
The EU Commission is calling for a cap on gas costs for basic consumption in private households.
Most Germans support this.
This emerges from a survey by the opinion research institute Civey for SPIEGEL.
66 percent of those surveyed rated the EU Commission's request very positively or rather positively.
On the other hand, 20 percent found the proposal from Brussels very negative or rather negative, 14 percent answered "undecided".
Another proposal to relieve private households recently came from the energy industry: in view of the sharp rise in prices, the value added tax on gas should be reduced from the current 19 to seven percent.
The reduced rate should take effect from January 1, 2023, according to a paper by the Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW).
The proposal from the energy industry meets with a lot of approval among the population: around 82 percent answered the question about a reduction in VAT with "Yes, definitely" or "rather yes".
Only 11 percent answered “rather no” or “no, definitely not”.
Seven percent were undecided.
The topic of gas prices has not only occupied the German government since the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
Olaf Scholz experienced how irritable the mood in parts of the population is on Wednesday evening at an event with citizens in Neuruppin, Brandenburg.
When he announced further relief, the Chancellor was shouted down by demonstrators.
In the past few days, the possibility of mass protests against government policies in the fall has been speculated.
Right-wing extremists want to mobilize their supporters for a German winter of rage, specifically fueling popular anger.
The left also wants to organize demonstrations.
as/AFP/dpa