The commission of experts set up by the federal government wants to make a proposal for the design of the gas price brake at the weekend. According to a media report from the second meeting of the committee, however, individual representatives would not consider Habeck’s model to be feasible.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) expects soon to have a model for the concrete design of the planned gas price brake. The commission of experts on the gas price brake set up by the federal government intends to present a proposal at the weekend. But at the second meeting on Tuesday, members of the commission are said to have clearly contradicted the idea of Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck. This is reported by the “Bild” newspaper.
“I don’t think the model can be implemented,” said Marie-Luise Wolff, President of the Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries, according to the participants. Instead, quick, unbureaucratic solutions are needed, such as a fixed deduction per kWh. However, employees at the Ministry of Economics would want a brake that is based on the previous year’s consumption of each household. That would not work, since most people live in rented apartments and the majority of them depend on central heating. Axel Gedaschko, President of the housing industry, is said to have seen it that way, according to the participant report .
Chancellor Scholz, on the other hand, assumes that there will be results next week, to which the federal government can then respond “immediately”, he said on Tuesday. “The commission is working flat out to present politicians with recommendations for a balanced and practicable gas price brake as soon as possible,” said the chairmen of the commission on Tuesday after the second meeting at the request of the German Press Agency. These are the economist Veronika Grimm, the chairman of the energy union IG BCE, Michael Vassiliadis, and industry president Siegfried Russwurm. “The chairmen are striving for the commission to draw up a resilient proposal during its retreat next weekend and present it to politicians.”
There are many factors to consider – from the validity of the data to regulatory issues. “At the same time, it is important to organize financial relief without neglecting incentives to save gas. In this weighing process, the experts discuss various starting points and options.” There is no pre-determination of a model or specific consumption or price thresholds.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck had said that the Commission had been asked to bring forward the recommendation for a gas price brake. On Thursday, the traffic light coalition announced a “defense shield” of up to 200 billion euros to support consumers and companies because of rising energy prices. The controversial gas levy is off the table – there should be a gas price brake for that. At least for part of consumption, the prices should be capped in such a way that private households and companies are not overwhelmed.