Finance Minister Robert Hubeck has urged private households and industry to use gas sparingly, telling them: “We are now in a situation where every kilowatt hour of energy that can be saved is useful.” The first part of a three-point emergency plan that decides how and where supplies will go in the event of a gas and oil flow threat is triggered on Wednesday. Hospitals and emergency services will be given priority, followed by private households. The industries, which use a quarter of the gas supplied to Germany, will be the first to close. Businesses are asked to submit individual cases on how much energy they would need if supplies were to be distributed by voucher, according to the plan, which was drawn up in 2017. The impact on industry will be severe and will have a direct negative impact on the economy, including supply chains and employment. The head of the association of German towns, Helmut Deddy, on Thursday urged the government to “take seriously” the challenges. He proposed setting a speed limit of 10km / h on highways, gaining the support of the environmental lobby group, BUND, which said it would also support the introduction of car-free Sundays and the closure of short-haul flights. Dedi said that stopping the flow of Russian gas or oil is now a realistic scenario and immediate action must be taken, mainly to prepare people for the situation. “We do not want any hysteria, but we need a stronger awareness from the world and the economy that we can lead to a large-scale crisis,” he told the DPA news agency. A speed limit on German roads was proposed for environmental reasons during the negotiations for the formation of the current government, but was rejected after opposition from the FDP in favor of business. Deddy said Hubeck’s activation of the contingency plan was right. “We must take all possible measures at our disposal and at every level to prepare us for a Russian supply cut, for both strategic and practical reasons,” he said. The price of gas jumped again on Wednesday after the news that Vladimir Putin insisted that gas and oil supplies should be paid in rubles in the future. In a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Soltz, Putin agreed that payments could continue in euros or dollars. However, Berlin has no illusions that the situation could change quickly. The vulnerability of Europe’s largest economy has already been largely exposed due to the fact that 55% of its gas imports – higher than other European countries – come from Russia. The government has repeatedly come under pressure from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to stop buying Russian gas. The Lithuanian president said it was time for Europe to stop all energy trade with Russia. “The proceeds are only used to finance the attack on Ukraine,” Gitanas Nauseda told a joint news conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Vilnius. The Germans were first called upon to “lower the thermostat” shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and, at least jokingly, a growing number of Germans seem to be doing just that. Orders for heat pumps as an alternative to gas central heating are high, and people are also receiving warnings about the need to save energy, including not keeping electronic equipment on standby or switching on LED lights. As businesses are asked to show where they can reduce energy consumption, some are even urging their employees to switch to laptops instead of using desktops or turning off showroom lights at night. Berlin has said it plans to wean Germany from Russian gas, but Habeck warned that this would not be possible until mid-2024. would have been considered unthinkable even just a few weeks ago for the Green politician.
