According to Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), the feared stop to all Russian gas deliveries could result in a price explosion at some municipal utilities. If Putin turns off the gas tap after the maintenance work on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in the Baltic Sea, the government would, if necessary, allow the skyrocketing prices in some places to be passed on. But the decision has not yet been made. One thing is certain: Habeck and the President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, fear a total failure of deliveries via the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1.
Habeck said on Saturday at an event of the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” that the Russian attack on Ukraine was a “quasi economic warfare conflict”. The Russian calculation is to “destroy the unity and solidarity of the country” through high prices in Germany. According to Habeck, it is still unclear whether Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will actually turn off the gas. “The question is: does he really do it?” It’s not out of the question.
With a view to suppliers such as Uniper, the largest German gas importer who got into trouble, the minister said: “The companies that now have a lot of Russian gas have a real problem.” Either the state supports them with tax money. “Or the companies are allowed to pass on the prices.” This is provided for in the Energy Security Act. Discussions about a probably necessary change in the law were under way in the coalition. A paragraph that would allow companies to pass on prices outside of the contract has not yet been activated. Because this is “a very, very sharp sword”.
“That would mean that you would immediately have a price explosion for some public utilities, which would then have to do with their customers.” The government is also working on other options “that may not drive the wedge so sharply into society”.
The President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, told the newspapers of the Funke media group: “Many consumers will be shocked when they receive mail from their energy supplier. With what Putin is giving us with Nord Stream 1, we can triple it.”
If the gas flow from Russia is “motivated to be lowered for a longer period of time, we have to talk more seriously about savings,” said Müller. The twelve weeks before the start of the heating season would have to be used for preparations.
Habeck initially relies on saving gas on a voluntary basis, as he said. If gas saving had to be prescribed, this also depended on the networks. It will then probably be regulated at the expense of those factories that are not part of a mixed network that also supplies protected private households. According to the President of the Federal Network Agency, in the event of a Russian gas supply stop, private households as well as hospitals and nursing homes would be given special protection.
If industrial companies have to be separated from the gas supply, “we orient ourselves to the business damage, the economic damage, the social consequences and also the technical requirements of the gas network operation,” said Müller. Müller called for gas condensing boilers and radiators to be checked and, if necessary, adjusted more efficiently.
Hamburg’s environment senator Jens Kerstan (Greens) does not rule out a limitation of hot water for private households in the event of a gas emergency in the Hanseatic city, as he made clear in the “Welt am Sonntag”.
Nord Stream’s annual maintenance work, which usually lasts ten days, begins on July 11. Then no gas flows through Nord Stream 1. The big concern is that Russia will not turn on the gas tap again after the maintenance.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian government expects to be able to supply even more gas by 2024 at the latest. “Companies are now examining projects to be able to increase their gas supplies from 2024 and 2025,” Norway’s Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland told Wirtschaftswoche. The country’s companies have never exported as much natural gas from the Norwegian continental shelf as they do now. “We support our European friends in being able to act independently of Russian oil and gas as quickly as possible.”
Airport chaos in Germany: NRW was the first federal state to start the summer holidays. And finally heralds the start of chaos at the airports. The summer holidays are also starting in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, while some employees at Hamburg Airport are going on warning strikes. All important information here in the Newsticker.
Finance Minister Christian Linder (FDP) wants to put the red pencil on positions in ministries and authorities from 2023.
