Network Agency in Germany warns of the failure of hundreds of thousands of gas boilers
The Federal Network Agency has specified what happens in the event of a regional gas shortage. The Association of Cities calls for state aid for municipal utilities, Robert Habeck speaks of a “quasi-economic warfare dispute”.
The President of the Federal
Network Agency, Klaus Müller, warns of permanent consequences for private
natural gas consumers if there is a local gas shortage during the energy
crisis.
“The moment the pressure in the
gas network in a region falls below a certain minimum, the fuse in hundreds of
thousands of gas boilers would suddenly kick in”, Müller told the newspapers of
the Funke media group.
“They would have to be manually
activated again by trained specialists if gas was available in the region
again. Nobody can wish for such a
scenario because it would take a very long time to restore the gas supply.”
It will therefore always be the
goal of the Federal Network Agency to order reductions in industrial
consumption if necessary, said Müller, “so that this scenario does not occur”. Almost every second of the approximately 43
million homes in Germany is being heated with gas.
According to the head of the Network
Agency, the gas flows in Germany are currently more or less evenly distributed.
“That could change if we only receive
gas from Norway, the Netherlands or Belgium.”
Therefore, the reservoirs are
already being filled so that the south can also be adequately supplied. “For example, we are currently not only
focusing on the largest German storage facility in Rehden in Lower Saxony, but
also on the storage facility in Wolfersberg in Bavaria”, said Müller.
The reservoirs are crucial to
prevent the shortage scenario described in an emergency situation. On average, the gas storage facilities are
currently a good 61 percent full; However, as a result of the reduced gas
supplies from Russia, the levels are only rising slowly.
“Swimming pools probably do not
belong in the critical area, just like the production of chocolate biscuits.”
Klaus Müller on possible restrictions
in the event of a gas shortage
And while some reservoirs are
more than 90 percent utilized, in North-West Europe's largest storage facility
in Rehden, it is only 21 percent - and in Wolfersberg only 12 percent,
according to data from the network operator association, Gas Infrastructure
Europe. The federal government is now
providing 15 billion euros so that the fuel can be purchased and stored.
Nevertheless, Müller is not sure
that it will be possible to fill the storage tanks to the targeted average
level of 90 percent before winter. “If
the gas flow from Russia is reduced for a longer period of time for political
reasons in the course of maintenance, we have to talk more seriously about
savings.”
In a gas shortage, “products and
offers that fall into the leisure and well-being area would be of secondary
importance,” says Müller. “Swimming
pools probably do not belong to the critical area, just like the production of
chocolate biscuits.”
There is growing concern in the
municipalities that municipal utilities will get into commercial difficulties
in view of the high gas prices - and that security of supply would be
endangered as a result. “The pressure on
the public utilities is increasing every day," said the general manager of
the German Association of Cities, Helmut Dedy, the German Press Agency.
If the public utilities were to
pass on the sharply rising purchase prices, many households would be
overwhelmed by the costs. On the other
hand, if the municipal utilities did not pass on the prices, many could slide
into bankruptcy, said Dedy. “The supply
of many households would no longer be secure.”
The federal government must
therefore immediately put the municipal suppliers under the protective umbrella
for companies. To do this, the state
must quickly grant liquidity support to affected municipal utilities through
guarantees and loans - and initiate an insolvency moratorium in the short term
in order to suspend the obligation to file for insolvency.
Municipal utilities operate the
basic supply of the population at the local level: for example with energy, but
also with services such as local public transport, waste and sewage disposal or
the operation of swimming pools.
Federal Economics, Minister
Robert Habeck warned of a "price explosion" for gas if there were a
total failure in Russian supplies.
Annual maintenance work on the
Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline, which usually lasts ten days, begins on July
11. Then there will be no gas flows
through the line. Whether Russia will
open the gas tap again after the maintenance is uncertain.
“Quasi-economic warfare dispute”
In order to assess the risk, one
would have to be able to look into the head of Russian President, Vladimir
Putin, Habeck said on Saturday evening at an event of "Zeit". “But you see a pattern and that can lead to
this scenario”. One is dealing with “a
quasi-economic warfare dispute”.
With a view to suppliers such as
Uniper, Germany's largest gas importer, which has fallen on hard times, Habeck
said: The companies that have imported a lot of Russian gas "have a real
problem". They would have to fulfil
their supply contracts with public utilities, for example, and buy much more
expensive gas elsewhere.
There are two options: Either the
state supports the companies with tax money. “Or the companies are allowed to
pass on the prices.” Habeck has not
activated Paragraph 24 of the Energy Security Act, which would allow companies
to do this regardless of price guarantees. The government is currently favoring other
options to save Uniper and other utilities.
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