Status: 10/27/2022 2:28 p.m
Because of the warm weather, households and smaller companies in Germany used significantly less gas last week than in previous years. The Federal Network Agency called for people to save further anyway.
Due to the warm temperatures in the past week, Germany’s households and smaller companies once again used significantly less natural gas than in previous years. In calendar week 42, the average gas consumption per day was 549 gigawatt hours (GWh), the Federal Network Agency announced. That is a good 41 percent less than the daily average in the same calendar weeks from 2018 to 2021 (935 GWh).
Netzagentur: Keep saving
According to the authorities, the reason for this is the comparatively high outside temperatures. The average temperature of 12.8 degrees was around 2.5 degrees above the KW 42 average for the years 2018 to 2021. Overall, gas consumption in Germany last week was almost 31 percent below the corresponding weekly average for the years 2018 to 2021.
Netzagentur President Klaus Müller called for the savings efforts to be maintained “even if it gets colder”. Despite well-stocked gas storage facilities, the network agency believes that gas consumption in Germany needs to be reduced by 20 percent.
In general, households in Germany spent less money on heating energy in 2020 and 2021 despite more home office work. This emerges from the “heat monitor” of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), which was published yesterday. Gas, heating oil, district heating and electricity were considered.
Companies: Can no longer save
However, German companies see their potential for saving gas consumption as largely exhausted. 60 percent of the companies see no or very little potential for savings of up to two percent in the next five years, according to the survey published by the chambers of industry and commerce among more than 3,500 companies from all sectors.
According to their own assessment, 20 percent can do without two to five percent of their previous consumption. Only another fifth considers a reduction of more than five percent in their energy consumption to be possible.
Businesses are shut down
“The companies’ struggle for survival in the face of skyrocketing energy prices has meant that short-term operational potential has been exhausted,” said Peter Adrian, President of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK). “Therefore, further goals to further reduce gas consumption in ongoing production operations are simply unrealistic.”
The decline in gas consumption in the economy is now more and more often the result of plant shutdowns or production restrictions. “We therefore have to look for other ways to mobilize additional gas or to save gas, for example in electricity generation,” said Adrian. “This is the only way we will avoid insolvencies and preserve value chains.”
“Smart” energy saving
But there is another way of saving: In view of the high electricity and gas prices, more and more Germans are apparently opting for “smart” energy saving. At the beginning of the year, every tenth private household (3.7 million) used thermostats, electricity meters and lighting that can be controlled via the Internet, for example, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden. These systems automatically turn off the heating when the window is opened, for example, or turn it down as soon as nobody is in the apartment. Smart lighting can therefore be controlled via app and voice control according to individual needs.