What will happen if no more gas comes from Russia? The situation is “manageable,” says Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck. But economists disagree. The federal government is therefore working on a strategy to ration gas. It will also affect private households.

The plans of the Federal Government and the Federal Network Agency to save gas are taking shape. Against the background of a day by day uncertain supply of gas from Russia to Germany, the President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, made it clear that it is the industry that will be the first to be affected by a failure in gas supplies.

At a meeting of the Handelsblatt newspaper last week, he described the discussion initiated by business circles to first switch off private households and then industry in the event of a gas shortage as a “phantom debate”. The legal situation according to the European SOS Protection Ordinance is clear, in a gas emergency private households, hospitals, nursing homes are among the protected customers. “This legal situation will not change, no matter which chairman of the supervisory board gives an interview somewhere,” said Müller.

Patrick Graichen, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, had previously made a similar statement. However, he made it clear that there may also be restrictions for private households: “The question is what a protected customer is entitled to, whether 25 or 20 degrees room temperature”.

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Pool heating can be banned in an emergency. Regulatory intervention is also possible when gas is used in excess of the normal needs of a person or household. As an incentive, Müller can imagine a bonus for every household that verifiably uses 20 percent less gas than in the past three years.

The head of the network agency hopes that consumers will understand and cooperate. All efforts by the federal government to diversify gas imports and to open up new import sources were not sufficient in an emergency to completely compensate for the loss of Russian gas. “That’s why we have to win people over and convince them to save gas themselves.”

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Russia’s gas sanctions are causing growing uncertainty on the energy markets. The punitive measures now affect more than 30 European companies, most notably Gazprom Germania GmbH and some of its subsidiaries, which are responsible for gas trading and storage. You will no longer receive gas from Russia. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) said he sees this as a new stage in the conflict. Moscow’s announcements that it would use oil and gas as a weapon have now materialised.

Habeck considers the concrete effects of the Russian gas sanctions to be “manageable”. Ten million cubic meters of gas are now no longer being delivered from Russia every day, the minister said. Calculated over the rest of the year, the volume corresponds to around three percent of German demand. Apparently, according to insiders, the Russian sanctions are aimed at destroying Gazprom Germania, but not the German-Russian gas business as a whole.

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The article “Forecast by economists: This will happen if Putin turns off the gas tap” comes from WirtschaftsKurier.