Due to the parallel phase-out of coal and nuclear power, Germany is heavily dependent on natural gas. In the event of gas bottlenecks, the President of the Federal Network Agency decides who will still be supplied – and in an interview he prepares consumers for new price increases.
Many gas customers have already received one or more price increases in recent months – and these will probably not be the last. After the Russian delivery stop for Denmark and Shell, the President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, expects further price increases. “The gas that is freely traded in Europe is likely to gradually decrease,” Müller told the “Tagesspiegel” (Tuesday). “If the screw is tightened further, even if it’s only small steps, gas will become even more expensive,” he warned head of authority.
Müller does not currently fear that Russia will turn off the gas supply to Germany, Poland or the Netherlands. “The gas inflows are currently stable,” says Müller. However, serious predictions are impossible, the Federal Network Agency can only proceed on sight, he adds: “I dare not make any forecasts that go beyond the next 24 hours”.
Germany is dependent on a stable gas supply, especially in winter, since wind and solar energy need a backup at all times due to their volatility; and that also consists of natural gas because of the parallel phase-out of coal and nuclear power. “Putin fills his coffers and Germany is still at his mercy because of its dependence on gas. We must become less dependent on Russian gas. This is also the line of the federal government. And even if this is not unproblematic in terms of climate policy, if you think of liquid gas LNG, for example, there is currently no alternative,” said Müller, head of the network agency, to the “Tagesspiegel”.
LNG is significantly more expensive than natural gas, and it is supplied from the USA, among other places. A floating LNG terminal is currently being planned in Hamburg, in which the tankers will be unloaded and the gas will be stored or fed into the gas network.
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According to Müller, there are two crisis teams in the network agency, a “Gas Team” and a “Electricity Team”. In the gas team, it is decided who will still be supplied in the event of gas bottlenecks and who will not. In any case, consumers have priority over industry, emphasizes Müller – discussions about rule changes in this area are “hot air”. In the event of an acute shortage, preference is given to “private consumers and, for example, hospitals, nursing homes, barracks, police stations,” Müller continues.
The agency is currently compiling data in order to be able to provide companies with “legally secure shutdown orders” if the worst comes to the worst. “We also have to take into account the economic and economic damage that will be caused. There are sectors that can cope with a throttling or reduction, but there are also those in which the production facilities are destroyed when we send them the shutdown order,” says Müller.
In Germany, there is an emergency plan for the event of a gas shortage or delivery stop, which gives the authorities more and more powers to cut off the energy supply in several stages. You can read how the emergency plan works here: The consequences of Putin’s ruble trick: Who gets the gas first in an emergency
