Source: Energy & Management Powernews, November 03 2022
The Federal Cabinet decided on November 2 to pay the December discount for gas consumers from the state. In addition, 2023 electricity and gas price brakes are to come.
"We are working in the federal government at full speed on the implementation of the gas and electricity price brakes," said Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck on the cabinet decision of the emergency aid for the month of December. He added that the German government expects the emergency aid to cost an estimated 9 billion euros. With this, it will take over the payment of the December discount of the gas customers to relieve them from the increased prices due to the Ukraine war. However, the companies and associations warn against trying to introduce the gas and electricity price brake before March 1, 2023.
Don't promise the impossible
Ingbert Liebing, chief executive of the Association of Municipal Companies (VKU) said, "There is still no set of rules or ready-made IT solutions that map this." He said the political announcement had caused "utter horror" among utilities. At best, a repeat of the December solution would be possible, although this is also already very elaborate. A task force from BMWK and energy suppliers should work in the short term on pragmatic solutions for the price brakes, Liebing offered.
For the BDEW, Chief Executive Kerstin Andreae said the idea for the electricity price brake from January was probably politically motivated to give people something. However, she warned at the same time, "If I stir up expectations that I cannot fulfill, I gamble away trust." This had already been shaken with the discussion about the gas levy.
Therefore, she said, politics should stick to what can be implemented, and that would be the capped price quotas for electricity and gas from March 2023. Then end customers are to obtain a quota of 80 percent of their average consumption at capped prices and only additional consumption at the high market prices. This is intended to both relieve the burden and encourage energy savings. For gas, the capped gross price is to be 40 cents/kWh.
Natural gas suppliers are to inform about the emergency aid by Nov. 21
For the December payment, procedures and regulations for determining the amount of the down payment to be refunded are to be clear by early November. By mid-November, utilities are to determine the budget billing amount to be refunded. By Nov. 21, details of December emergency assistance are to be posted on natural gas suppliers' websites. To 1 December the suppliers are to receive from the state the refund of the deductions.
On a meeting on 2 November complained the boss of the Osterholzer of public utilities, the enterprises had no reliable information more. Christian Meyer-Hammerström warned, "In the crisis, communication is the most important thing." In the daily back and forth of politics, he said, he could not make statements for his company, his employees or the citizens that would hold up. The utilities are constantly making "decisions under uncertainty," he said. The companies have only a few days to submit the amount of the December deductions to KfW. But they would need these in order to remain liquid.
Municipal utilities under bureaucratic pressure
"If the amount of the levy for the gas storage facilities is announced by the federal government on November 15, the municipal utilities would have to inform all their customers of their new price by mail two days later," Meyer-Hammerström said, describing the many additional tasks. In addition, he said, his company's creditworthiness is in jeopardy because of the threat of customer defaults. This is particularly dangerous in times of rising interest rates, he said. Currently, only short decision-making paths between the managing director, the board of directors and the supervisory board can still be acted upon, he outlined.
At a citizens' forum held by Stadtwerke Osterholz, however, 70 percent of the questions revolved around security of supply and only 30 percent around affordability. "The cost development has not yet reached the households at all," Meyer-Hammerström said. His company tries to educate that electric heaters are not enough to heat and are cost traps.
Because regional installers had no free capacity, their own employees now offer heating adjustments, he said, which is well received. "We must think beyond the crisis," warned the Stadtwerkchef from near Bremen at the same time. Investments in the energy turnaround must nevertheless move forward, despite the heavy workload of crisis management.
Author: Susanne Harmsen
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