Moscow turned the gas tap sharply last week. Wholesale gas prices have risen sharply since then. Household customers must expect that the costs will be passed on.
Russia has been pumping significantly less gas to Germany for a few days – according to the Federal Network Agency, the gas supply situation remained “tense” at the beginning of the week.
The debate about the effects and countermeasures continues: SPD party leader Lars Klingbeil appealed to consumers to save gas. “Anyone who turns down the heating and helps save energy is doing a great service to get through this crisis,” said Klingbeil on the RTL / ntv program “Frühstart”. “There are tough months ahead of us, but we will get through it in solidarity and together.”
“It threatens to get very bad”
The energy expert Udo Sieverding from the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center assumes that gas prices will continue to rise. Should there be a further reduction in gas supplies from Russia or even a supply stop, there will be “considerable pressure on gas prices,” said Sieverding. He believes that retail prices could triple or even quadruple compared to pre-crisis levels. “It threatens to get very bad.”
Wholesale gas prices continued to rise on Monday. On the Dutch trading platform TTF, natural gas to be delivered cost 127 euros per megawatt hour in July in the afternoon after just under 118 euros on Friday. On Monday a week ago, the price was 83.40 euros. Increased procurement prices can also lead to rising prices for household customers with a delay.
The co-chairman of the left, Amira Mohamed Ali, criticized the price increases. “One urgently needs to introduce state price control as far as energy is concerned. Other countries, including those in Europe, have already done that,” said Mohamed Ali on NDR Info. In addition, there must be an excess profit tax in order to skim off the profits of the industry. “It cannot be that energy prices are a black box and there are no government controls on how they come about. This area is far too important for that.”
RWE boss expects high prices for years to come
The CEO of the Essen-based energy group RWE, Markus Krebber, expects gas and electricity prices to remain high for years after Russia attacked Ukraine. “It will probably take three to five years,” said the manager of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” about the energy bottlenecks in Germany. “Because it takes time before new capacities are created and other countries can supply additional energy.”
The energy expert Claudia Kemfert from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) welcomed the federal government’s gas-saving plans presented at the weekend. It makes sense to save gas and to promote the gas savings potential of the industry through auctions, she told the German Press Agency. “The lower the gas consumption, the more gas can be stored and the lower the overall social costs.”
Kemfert sees the plans to increasingly use coal instead of gas-fired power plants to generate electricity as critical. “Renewable energies would be better than coal – an emergency funding program should be launched for this.” Reactivating coal-fired power plants can only be the very last option. “Gas and coal are expensive, renewable energies are significantly cheaper.”
The head of the German Economic Institute (IW), Michael Hüther, welcomed the planned ramp-up of coal-fired power plants. “It is absolutely correct that the technically complicated exit from Russian gas is being prepared in order to counteract possible delivery restrictions by Gazprom,” said Hüther of the “Rheinische Post”.
For industry as a whole, the possible reduction in gas use by the end of the year is around eight percent. “Therefore, other consumptions must be reduced, above all, wherever possible, the use of gas in electricity production should be replaced by other sources.” This will temporarily lead to stronger coal-fired power generation.
Sticking to the coal phase-out
Despite the planned use of more coal-fired power plants to reduce gas consumption, the Federal Ministry of Economics wants to stick to the coal phase-out by 2030. “The coal phase-out in 2030 is not wobbling at all. It is more important than ever that it takes place in 2030, »said a spokesman for the ministry.
According to the “Handelsblatt”, the FDP energy expert Michael Kruse sees hurdles for longer lifetimes of nuclear power plants. The FDP is “open to technology, but there are big question marks about the continued operation of the three nuclear power plants,” said the member of the Bundestag to the newspaper. «In the short term there are no replacement fuel elements on the market – and the main supplier is Russia. Anyone who is serious about turning away from Russian energy dependency should solve these problems first.” The ministry spokesman said something similar: “If we continue to rely on nuclear power plants, we would again be dependent on a Russian energy source.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasized in an interview that the decision to phase out nuclear energy had been made for a long time. Fuel elements and the necessary maintenance intervals of the systems are precisely tailored to this, Scholz told the “Münchner Merkur”. So the fuel rods lasted until the end of the year. Getting new ones would take at least 12 to 18 months, he stressed.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
