According to the SPD politician Katja Mast, the commission of experts on the gas price brake has to cope with a “Herculean task”. “Within a very short time, the leading experts from science, politics and business must make a proposal on how we can get the exploding energy prices in the heating sector under control,” said the first parliamentary director of the SPD parliamentary group of the German Press Agency. The members of the commission also discussed on Saturday.
The problem is complex because energy suppliers lack the data for many of the models that are currently circulating, Mast said. It is also not easy to answer the question of how to curb the price but still get consumers to save.
The chairmen of the commission had declared that they would work out a “resilient proposal” for a gas price brake over the weekend and then submit it to politicians. The traffic light coalition has announced a “defense shield” of up to 200 billion euros to support consumers and companies because of rising energy prices. A gas price brake could cap the prices for at least part of consumption in such a way that private households and companies are not overwhelmed. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) expects the experts to present their proposal on Monday.
Mast: Proposal can be revised
According to Mast, the Commission could revise its proposal later if necessary. “It is important for us that the proposals take effect quickly, because many citizens and companies are already under enormous pressure,” she said. “In the best-case scenario, we should take into account the respective social situation of the consumers affected. If necessary, this can also be done in a second step with a differentiated model.”
According to SPD leader Saskia Esken, Germany will get through the winter well with the planned energy price brakes. They are powerful means of reducing consumer prices to a reasonable level, Esken told the editorial network Germany (Saturday). “Through joint efforts we will get through the winter well. We will not leave anyone alone in this difficult situation.” This applies to consumers and social institutions such as companies of all sizes.
Caritas President wants solidarity solution
Caritas President Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa, herself a member of the Commission, called for a solution based on solidarity. “200 billion euros – in the end nobody should be left out in the rain,” she told the “taz” at the weekend. “Especially not the people who live in facilities for elderly care, integration assistance or child and youth welfare.” She emphasized that it is still unclear to what extent the subsidized gas prices also apply to these people and to what extent larger providers of social institutions also benefit from the relief.
There must also be solidarity when it comes to who can save how much. “In an old people’s care facility, you can’t just cool down the meeting room to 16 degrees – not for older people who freeze faster anyway,” said Welskop-Deffaa. If energy becomes really scarce, “then it might make more sense to specifically take a few manufacturing companies off the grid for the winter.”
Saving energy is not equally possible for everyone
Industry President Siegfried Russwurm called on consumers to save energy despite the planned gas price brake. “There is no way around it,” he said, according to the preliminary report of “Welt am Sonntag”. The fact that the stores are more than 90 percent full is better than expected, but not enough. “Further purchases from the remaining sources are essential. But also saving.” In addition, no price brake can undermine the world market. Gas prices would not drop to previous levels for the foreseeable future.
The head of the Verdi union, Frank Werneke, called for the gas price brake not to be set “unrealistically low”. Residents of old houses could not regularly save more than 20 percent of consumption this winter, Werneke told the “Rheinische Post”. “It is now important to make sure that the gas price brake – and by the way also the electricity price brake – does not become an air act.”
The former EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger (CDU) criticized the traffic light coalition in the federal government for its actions in the energy crisis. “A lot of time is lost because the economics, environment and finance ministries don’t cooperate well. First the gas levy, now the gas price brake, you can’t govern like that,” said the former Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister of the “Mannheimer Morgen”. The EU has been observing with concern Germany’s going it alone in energy policy for years. As examples, Oettinger cited the phasing out of nuclear power, the delayed expansion of the power lines from north to south and the phasing out of coal. “The Germans always have big visions, but the implementation doesn’t work.”
