Industry and household savings reduce German gas consumption

High prices and possibly also pleas by the government are driving down gas consumption in Germany, reports Jakob Schlandt in energy and climate newsletter Tagesspiegel Background. Most recent data by the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) show that gas use by households and other small-scale consumers in the week 3-9 October was almost 30 percent below the average of the same week in the previous four years. “This is good news. Let’s keep going,” said BNetzA head Klaus Müller on Twitter. However, direct comparison is difficult, because most gas is used for heating and temperatures for the week were higher this year, resulting in lower gas use. Thus, pure consumption data is insufficient to assess energy saving efforts by the population. But researchers from economic institute DIW have presented temperature adjusted consumption data, which also indicate that households do save gas. At the same time, industry gas consumption – which does not depend on the weather to the same extent – was down about 30 percent as well last week.

BNetzA head Müller has said that Germany would have to reduce overall gas consumption by about 20 percent to help prevent a gas shortage this winter. Germany and its European neighbours face looming shortages after Russia stopped deliveries as part of the consequences of the war against Ukraine.