Citizens in Germany are developing great fears of the next service charge bill, and companies are threatened with extinction. The demands for a gas price cap or other measures against extreme gas costs are getting louder. The SPD MP Matthias Mieves speaks in the “Spiegel” interview of desperate families and bills with sixfold deductions.
“Sometimes the costs are ‘only’ doubled – that’s also a hammer for many people, but maybe it can still be managed somehow. But I’ve also seen bills where the deductions have been increased sixfold,” says the SPD MP in the “Spiegel “-Interview.
In this context, he speaks of a family in which the father has to spend his entire wages on gas. He warns: “The great wave of increases is yet to come.”
Mieves doesn’t have quick answers to these problems. All the measures taken so far are “far from what you need as a family to get out of trouble and into a situation that is at least halfway manageable”.
He calls for energy price brakes. This applies above all to gas, while electricity has already been decided. It shouldn’t take too long, as would normally be the case with such political decisions, because “we don’t have the time now, the winter would be over by then, families would have gone bankrupt, companies would have closed,” says the business economist.
What could such a gas price brake look like? Mieves tells the “Spiegel”: “One could, for example, use the average consumption of households in Germany. A part would then be available at a significantly reduced amount. Everything that is additionally consumed is subject to free market prices.”
However, gas will no longer be as cheap as it was before the war.
The city of Rosenheim distributes flyers giving advice on what to do in the event of a blackout. “Plan as you would for a 14-day camping holiday in your own four walls,” says the note.
Stadtwerke Düsseldorf is currently sending letters about upcoming gas price increases. But the letters should not help many. Because the letter simply contains a complicated formula with which the increase is calculated.
In order for Germany to become less dependent on Russian gas, private households will also have to take on more responsibility. From the. The second stage of the new Energy Saving Ordinance takes effect on October 1st. What does that mean for consumers?
