The cool autumn is putting the brakes on saving energy: Gas consumption has recently risen significantly again

Created: 09/30/2022, 08:09

By: Marc Beyer

When the temperatures drop in autumn, it quickly becomes uncomfortable without heating.

© Ute Grabowsky/Imago

Saving on heating - a nice theory.

But when it gets colder and colder, the citizens probably see no alternative.

That is reflected in the numbers.

Munich – August was not only a beautiful sight in the sky.

The weather was stable, temperatures high, and the last thing on your mind as a regular gas customer was turning up the heat.

This was also reflected in the statistics.

Compared to the figures for previous years, gas consumption in Germany was up to 20 percent lower (everything about the gas price brake).

It has long been common knowledge that each individual can make a contribution to overcoming the energy crisis, whether with shorter showers or more economical heating.

In practice, however, good intentions do not always seem to work out.

As soon as autumn lets the temperatures drop, consumption skyrockets.

In the middle of the week it was suddenly one percent above the average.

This is not an exact value, because private customers and small businesses only measure at large intervals, often only once a year, and the network operators therefore set up a model calculation.

But he reflects a trend.

Federal Network Agency calls the recent consumption figures "very sobering"

In fact, energy consumption has recently increased among small customers.

And that too much, as the Federal Network Agency criticized yesterday in clear words.

Last week alone, consumption was 483 gigawatt hours, 14.5 percent above the average for this week from 2018 to 2021.

The agency calls these numbers "very sobering."

Without massive savings in the private sector, too, it would be "difficult to avoid a gas shortage in winter," said President Klaus Müller.

Above all, the hitherto nasty autumn weather has severely slowed down the willingness to save among small households.

In this segment, which is responsible for around 40 percent of gas consumption in Germany, the figures are “very strongly temperature-dependent,” says Moritz Hoheisel from Trading Hub Europe (THE), the association of network operators in Germany.

The savings potential is limited to the small measures – the shower or the heating.

The situation is completely different for industrial customers, who have been trying to save energy on a large scale for months.

In August, their numbers were 22 percent below the average of the past few years, and last week they were even 30 percent lower.

The German gas storage facilities are now 91.5 percent full

Yet another figure shows how the handling of the subject of natural gas has changed at various levels.

The German gas storage facilities are now 91.5 percent full.

At this time a year ago, when Russia was still considered a trustworthy supplier, there were only 67. However, that does not mean the all-clear for gas supplies.

Even if the storage were full to the brim, the amount would only be enough to supply Germany for two months.

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In the coming months, the country will not be able to avoid saving energy – in addition to securing imports and expanding the liquid gas infrastructure such as the LNG terminals.

"It will depend on each individual," suspects Netzagentur boss Müller.

Consumption must be reduced by 20 percent in order to prevent shortages.

When winter sets in and heating is the dominant topic, it will become apparent how pronounced the will to save household customers really is.

"They turn it up first - or not," says Hoheisel.

In any case, the Federal Network Agency is now publishing its weekly figures on gas consumption in households and industry.

You can understand that as a service and orientation aid.

But also as an urgent reminder.