energy crisis
Gas price commission proposes one-time payment and price cap
Linden combined heat and power plant in Hanover (archive image)
© Julian Stratenschulte / DPA
The Gas Price Commission’s proposals to relieve customers are now available: the experts are proposing a tiered model to the federal government. This provides for a one-off payment and capped prices for business and consumers.
The Federal Government’s commission of experts wants to propose a phased model to relieve gas customers. On the one hand, this provides for a one-off payment in the amount of a monthly bill this year, on the other hand, quotas at capped prices are planned for business and consumers in the coming year, as the German Press Agency learned from Commission circles on Monday.
The chairmen of the commission on the gas price brake want to hand over the proposal, which was drawn up in a conference at the weekend, to Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the morning and then present it to the public.
As the dpa learned from commission circles, the committee proposes a one-off payment for December. For industrial gas customers, there should be a fixed and thus capped price of 7 cents per kilowatt hour for 16 months from January for 70 percent of the previous year’s consumption. For private households and small and medium-sized companies, there should be a cap of 80 percent of the previous year’s consumption for 12 cents from March for 14 months.
Gas price brake the government’s central rescue instrument
The gas price brake is intended to be a central rescue tool for the federal government in the energy crisis. On the one hand, it is intended to make gas prices more bearable for citizens and businesses, and on the other hand to provide incentives to save energy. The traffic light coalition has announced a “defense shield” with up to 200 billion euros to support consumers and companies. The gas price brake is also to be financed from this.
The tasks of the commission with representatives from associations, trade unions, science and the Bundestag go beyond the gas price brake. The members are also to assess the extent of price increases due to the loss of Russian gas supplies by spring 2024.
In addition to national relief options, they should also examine “options for cushioning price developments at European level, taking into account price formation on world markets”. Further meetings are planned for October 17th and 24th. The final work results should be available by the end of the month.