Gas crisis: German regulator urges residents to prepare for possible gas shortage

The head of Germany’s regulatory agency for energy called on residents Saturday (July 2) to save energy and to prepare for winter, when use increases, fearing Russia might cut off natural gas supplies.

Federal Network Agency President Klaus Mueller urged house and apartment owners to have their gas boilers and radiators checked and adjusted to maximize their efficiency, the Alarabiya English reported, citing Reuters.

He told Funke Mediengruppe, a German newspaper and magazine publisher: “Maintenance can reduce gas consumption by 10 percent to 15 percent.”

Mueller said residents and property owners need to use the 12 weeks before cold weather sets in to get ready. He said families should start talking now about “whether every room needs to be set at its usual temperature in the winter - or whether some rooms can be a little colder.”

The appeal came after Russia reduced gas flows to Germany, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia earlier this month, as European Union countries scramble to refill storage facilities with the fuel used to generate electricity, power industry and heat homes in the winter.

Italy could start being almost totally independent of Russian gas imports by the second half of 2023 (Photo: Pixabay)

Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom blamed a technical problem for the reduction in natural gas flowing through Nord Stream 1, a pipeline which runs under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.

The company said equipment getting refurbished in Canada was stuck there because of Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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German leaders have rejected that explanation and called the reductions a political move in reaction to the European Union’s sanctions against Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, who is also Germany’s economy and climate minister and responsible for energy, has warned a “blockade” of the pipeline is possible starting July 11, when regular maintenance work is due to start.

He said that in previous summers, the work has entailed shutting Nord Stream 1 for about 10 days.

The energy regulator’s Mueller said that the question is whether the upcoming regular maintenance of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline will turn into “a longer-lasting political maintenance.”

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He said that if the gas flow from Russia is “to be lowered for a longer period of time, we will have to talk more seriously about savings.”

According to Mueller, in the event of a gas supply stoppage, private households would be specially protected, as would hospitals or nursing homes.

“I can promise that we will do everything we can to avoid private households being without gas,” he said, adding: “We learned from the coronavirus crisis that we shouldn’t make promises if we’re not entirely sure we can keep them.”

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He said his agency “does not see a scenario in which there is no more gas coming to Germany at all.”

Also on Saturday (July 2), German chemical and consumer goods company Henkel said it was considering encouraging its employees to work from home in the winter as a response to a possible supply shortage.

Henkel CEO Carsten Knobel told daily newspaper Rheinische Post: “We could then greatly reduce the temperature in the offices, while our employees could heat their homes to the normal extent.”

Earlier this month, Habeck activated the second phase of Germany’s three-stage emergency plan for natural gas supplies, warning that Europe’s biggest economy faced a “crisis” and storage targets for the winter were at risk.

Source: alarabiyaenglish