Federal Cabinet decides to build up a gas reserve

The federal government is launching the development of a national gas reserve. The cabinet approved a bill from Economics Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU).

“The past few years have shown us how quickly a supposedly secure energy supply can falter,” said Reiche. The gas reserve should create an additional security buffer. It should only be used in certain exceptional cases. "The strategic gas reserve insures us not against high prices, but against crisis situations." These are extreme cases, sabotage and rare major events, according to the draft law.

The instrument is not intended to be a replacement for the market mechanism when filling gas storage facilities. The market players should bear full responsibility for winter precautions and the fulfillment of their delivery obligations and consumption quantities.

The Reuters news agency reports that a volume of 24 terawatt hours of natural gas is currently assumed. According to the information, the construction should take place as quickly as possible, but could be extended to up to three years if necessary. Financing will be provided through a levy that will ultimately be borne by gas customers.

This levy for gas customers is quite controversial in the government factions. The first “allocation period” is scheduled to begin on October 1, 2027. The draft bill estimates the consequences: For a typical household in an apartment building with an annual consumption of around 13,000 kilowatt hours or a typical household in a single-family house with an annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours, this means annual costs of 3.77 to 6.11 euros or 5.80 to 9.40 euros. As a result, gas procurement costs increased by 0.3 to 0.5 percent.

The total costs are estimated at 247 to 405 million euros per year. Around 40 percent of them would be borne by household and commercial customers and around 60 percent by industrial customers.

The specifications for filling levels for gas storage facilities will not be extended - they are due to expire at the end of March 2027. This year the targets were missed: an average filling level of 70 percent was actually supposed to be achieved by November 1st - this was not achieved. A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics emphasized that the gas supply was secured for the winter.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Federal Network Agency point out that the gas storage facilities have become less important due to additional imports of liquefied natural gas. “Yes, the gas storage facilities are currently less full than in previous years, but the storage levels no longer alone determine our security of supply,” said Reiche.

The industry association BDEW welcomed the gas reserve in principle, but spoke out in favor of financing it from the federal budget. This is appropriate because the reserve benefits not only gas customers, but the entire national economy.