Klingbeil’s billion-dollar plan: Gass storage levy is supposed to go away

The next week it has for the finance minister. The cabinet is intended to approve Lars Klingbeil’s budget for the current year 2025 – as well as its suggestions on how the federal government intends to issue the many billions that are available through the special fund for infrastructure.

What sounds technical could have consequences for many consumers. Because in the so-called “Budget Control Act” in 2025, a small sentence with possibly great effect is hidden: the rules for the climate and transformation fund should be changed in such a way that this can also be used to reduce the gas price in the future.

The aim of the maneuver: The gas storage levy, once introduced to Ukraine in the energy crisis after the Russian attack, is said to be away in its current form. It is about four billion euros. With every kilowatt hour of gas that German customers are currently consuming, they pay part of it. Katherina Reiche had made hints on the planned abolition, even a long manager at an energy company, at the end of last week. But now it is clear: the gas storage levy should no longer be paid by gas customers – but by everyone.

Whether heat pump, oil heating or district heating, everyone would indirectly pay for the still open costs in the future. They have nothing to do with climate protection or transformation: Before Russia started his major attack on Ukraine, many German gas stores were in Russian possessions. And Russia systematically emptied the gas storage as a strategic pressure for the winter of 2021/2022, Germany was primarily hung in the supply over the Nordstream pipelines.

After the attack on Ukraine, hustle and bustle broke out in Berlin: In order to prevent a gas deficiency in the following winter, the market was bought empty by a company, the Trading Hub Europe (the), at maximum prices. A total of 8.7 billion euros for 50 terawatt hours of gas were paid.

When the crisis failed to do so, the prices for gas dropped again – and The Sit on the expensive gas. In the end, it was sold with billions of bills. Since then, Germans, private households such as companies, have been paying the gass storage levy. It only makes up a small part of the price, with a family of three around 35 to 40 euros per year. However, it symbolically has a high value: here the federal government could reduce the costs. After all, four billion euros are still open, which, according to the current legal situation, must be tapred by German gas customers by the end of March 2027.

But the now planned maneuver is a citizens’ decline: the four billion euros would then be charged with the climate and transformation fund. This is supposed to cover costs that brings the transformation to renewable energies such as solar power, wind energy and hydrogen.

Now he would also be used to cover strategic wrong decisions of old federal governments-not least the last Merkel-CDU/CSU/SPD government. After all, it was SPD and Union politicians who accepted or even promoted Germany’s strategic dependence on Russia by building Nordstream pipelines and selling gas stores to Russian state companies. And the SPD-led traffic light government and the Green Economic Minister Robert Habeck also made expensive mistakes when solving the problem, which further rapidly rapidly raised the costs.

However, the current plan to attribute the gas customer, which are no longer to be added to the gas customer, but to the secondary budget of the climate and transformation fund from all government parties of the past 25 years: after the change of government, the purpose of the “KTF” is further softened.

During the negotiations on the debt brake in March, the Greens had negotiated the CDU, CSU and SPD that they also provided 100 billion euros for the KTF over the next 12 years. So a good eight billion euros per year. However, their consent is no longer required for the law now planned – finance minister has already planned the first four billion.

Only: This has nothing to do with climate protection or transformation. Climate -damaging gas will be a little cheaper over the next two years, old debts are postponed. And everyone has to pay it. For the KTF, the taxpayer stands straight for the expensive gas storage filling so far only the gas customers.

A maneuver that will take some criticism should keep up with Klingbeil, rich and the Merz cabinet. Especially for the SPD chairman and Vice Chancellor, the less desired discussions before the upcoming party congress could mean re-elected on the Klingbeil. The fact that his SPD, as a junior partner of the Merz government, enables this Mogelpack, should cause some irritations among environmentally conscious social democrats.