Germany fills deposits and calls for savings to face the winter without Russian gas

Germany continues to look for alternatives to Russian gas, whose flow has been considerably reduced, and adopting measures to lower high energy prices while the second level of alert of the three stages that has been established has been active in the country since June 23. foreseen in the gas emergency plan. The objective of the Government of Olaf Scholz is to fill the storage tanks for the winter, which are currently at 65% after the level was reduced last Tuesday, since the suppliers had to use of these facilities to meet demand. This occurred as a result of the cut in the supply of Russian gas through the Nord Stream gas pipeline, in which maintenance work is being carried out due to the lack of a turbine, as indicated by Russia, and through which only 40% of the usual volume was circulating. Thus, with the arrival of October, the administration intends that the filling capacity is already at 80%, and that the level reaches 90% for the month of November. For this, in the absence of its own facilities, four liquefied natural gas terminals have been set up, the first of which will come into operation in winter. In addition, in order to reach these quotas, there will also be a commitment to diversifying the supply, the reactivation of power plants that work with coal and oil to reserve and store gas, which will mean the return to the electricity market of a total of 27 plants up to on April 30, 2023, and a call for contribution by saving the population and industry. This is how the Minister of Economy and Climate, Robert Habeck, expressed himself this Tuesday, when he asked citizens for their contribution, since “a permanent or long-term interruption of industrial production” would have “massive consequences”, although for the moment the supply It is guaranteed. The “disconnection” of gas is not requested in order of priority, they later underlined from the ministry that directs it, but parameters such as the temperature of rooms or schedule regimes with which “safety standards” are determined for the households and other gas consumers. “It is also the responsibility of each citizen to save gas if possible,” they said. Concern is growing over a possible lack of supply for fear that Moscow will not resume normal flow when maintenance tasks are finished next Thursday, although since Government sent a message of calm at the beginning of the same regarding the guarantee of gas supply. In this sense, the Executive does not consider raising the alert level to the third stage, which would allow the State to intervene in the market to regulate the flow. Adopted measures Several measures have already been adopted to alleviate the effects of the war in Ukraine on households and companies. Aware that many families will not be able to afford the heating bill due to its sharp rise, as he recently stated, his Government has already approved a reduction in the price of transport passes to nine euros per month and limited to three, and the tax on hydrocarbons was reduced, although these measures have had only a slight dampening effect on general inflation, which stood at 7.6% in June. In this sense, the energy regulator in Germany warned that the price of heating could triple next year due to the rise in the price of gas, which is why a third aid package is called for, which is aimed, above all, at the most vulnerable. The German Association of Cities and Municipalities even looks favorably on enabling heated enclosures for people in situations of extreme need. Meanwhile, aid has also been allocated to the industry such as the energy cost containment program worth 5,000 million euros to help energy-intensive companies particularly affected by the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the opening of a line of credit from the KfW Development Bank of the German State, the expansion of guarantee mechanisms at the federal and regional level and an instrument of margin coverage.