The sharp rise in market prices for natural gas is causing unrest. The federal government assures that there are no supply bottlenecks. It looks different for the customers of a small supplier.
The federal government currently sees no gas supply bottlenecks in Germany. The gas storage facilities are well filled by international standards, for example much more than in Great Britain, said a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics.
The ministry is monitoring the situation on the gas market very closely. With a view to significant price increases, the spokeswoman said there are a number of causes. She referred, for example, to the recovery of the economy in Asia. The market is already reacting, for example Norway has increased the production volume.
The wholesale prices for gas had risen sharply in the past few months. According to the comparison portal Check24, the stock market price is at an all-time high. For September, a price of 44.03 euros per megawatt hour has so far been determined. In September 2020, the megawatt hour cost only 7.99 euros, an increase of 451 percent.
Many contracts terminated
The big gas suppliers buy long-term, however, so that price jumps on the stock exchange do not have an immediate impact. “We buy the required amounts of energy long-term and with foresight in order to avoid the price peaks that we are currently experiencing in the interests of our customers,” said the energy company Eon.
After the price explosion on the gas markets, a small provider wants to stop supplying customers with natural gas. The company Deutsche Energiepool (DEP) from Salzbergen in Lower Saxony announced on its website that it was forced to terminate many of the contracts it had concluded “due to economic unreasonableness”. Deutsche Energiepool will fulfill the contracts by the day the termination takes effect.
According to its own information, the company has specialized in the procurement of natural gas for industrial customers and municipal utilities and has also been supplying private customers since 2021. It was not available for inquiries on Friday.
Better supervision by the Federal Network Agency called for
“The mass termination of gas supply contracts after just a few months, weeks or even just 14 days before the start of the heating season is extraordinary,” said the energy expert at the consumer center in North Rhine-Westphalia, Udo Sieverding. The consumer advice center is currently receiving a noticeably high number of complaints from DEP customers.
The DEP tariff structure with a very high basic price and at the same time an extraordinarily low labor price is also noticeable, said Sieverding. This only pays off for consumers if gas is supplied when consumption is high during the heat-intensive months. After the dismissals before the heating season, there is a blatant disproportion between performance and consideration. As a supervisory authority, the Federal Network Agency must be vigilant.
Private customers whose delivery contract has been terminated by the company are entitled to delivery by the local basic supplier. According to their own statements, this is Eon in many parts of Germany. “We make sure that there is no interruption in the energy supply,” said Eon.
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.
