From the BZ editorial team
Measured by the filling levels of our gas storage facilities, we could start the winter halfway relaxed for the time being: On Tuesday, the Federal Network Agency announced that the current filling levels are 92.08 percent – and thus fully on target. The gas supply in Germany is “stable at the moment”.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck (53, Greens) also expects the next targeted mark to be met. He told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”: “I expect the targeted fill level of 95 percent at the end of the month.”
So far, so reassuring. However, our consumption plays an important role in the calculation of the required filling levels – and at the beginning of the heating season it is still far too high. Klaus Müller, head of the Federal Network Agency, warned on Thursday: “Gas consumption increased too much last week.”
In other words, the federal government’s appeals to save gas are apparently not yet having an effect on many consumers. According to the figures from the supervisory authority, the gas consumption of private households and smaller commercial customers in the 39th calendar week was 618 gigawatt hours, almost ten percent above the average consumption level for the years 2018 to 2021. According to the Federal Network Agency, the consumption of industrial customers last week was 1370 Gigawatt hours are only a good two percent below the level of previous years.
Müller calculated that Germany would hardly be able to avoid a gas emergency in winter without at least 20 percent savings in the private, commercial and industrial sectors. “The situation can become very serious if we don’t significantly reduce our gas consumption.”
Klaus Müller is head of the Federal Network Agency and calls on consumers and industry to save gas Photo: picture alliance/dpa
Private households and smaller commercial customers are responsible for around 40 percent of gas consumption in Germany. The remaining 60 percent are accounted for by large industrial customers.
For the time after the winter is over, the federal government is already expecting drastic bottlenecks in the filling levels. According to a media report, a ten-year low in the filling levels of German gas storage facilities is expected for May 2023 next year.
An average filling level of ten percent on May 1st is currently assumed, the EU Commission said in response to a request from the specialist information service Table.Media. In absolute figures, the last time the fill level was this low was in April 2013.
According to the report, the federal government also expects low filling levels of 30 and 65 percent for July 1 and September 1, 2023. This year at that point it was 61 and 85 percent. On May 1, 2022, the reservoirs were 36 percent full. Since this year, the EU states have had to report their expected storage levels to the Commission in Brussels.