“Contradicts reality”
The federal government and suppliers are canceling previous gas price brakes
10/24/2022 2:51 p.m
The gas price brake is coming, but it should only take effect from March. Demands to implement them as early as January are rejected by the energy industry and the federal government. Scholz spokesman Hebestreit refers to the one-time payment in December, which also “covered the months of January and February”.
The federal government currently considers the introduction of a gas price brake at the beginning of next year to be difficult to achieve. “The desire to install a gas price brake that will take effect very quickly is a bit counter to reality,” said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. That reality means many utilities have said they can’t do it anytime soon, Hebestreit said.
The government spokesman also referred to recent statements by the chairman of the industrial union BCE, Michael Vassiliadis, who had developed the concept of a gas price brake a few weeks ago together with other experts from a specialist commission for the federal government. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk, Vassiliadis had doubted that the gas price brake could be brought forward for private customers. The suppliers need different lengths of time for this. Since the price brake should come into force for all customers at the same time, March 1st was the earliest possible date, he had explained.
The President of the Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), Marie-Luise Wolff, said the same thing: “Previating the gas price brake to January 1st, 2023 does not fail due to a lack of will on the part of the energy industry.” As an explanation, she said: “The required conversion of the IT processes is so complex that the broad front of energy suppliers cannot cope with it in this short period of time,” explained Wolff. “That’s exactly why the one-time payment for December was developed.” To compensate for the late effect of the gas price brake, Wolff brought another one-time payment into play in January “to bridge the period until March 1st, 2023”.
Hebestreit rejected the impression that there was a relief gap in January and February. The one-time payment in December is designed in such a way that it “also covers the months of January and February” when relief is required. The acceptance of the advance payments in December for private households and businesses is already “part of this brake”, stressed Hebestreit. In fact, the gas price brake will therefore already be implemented in December. Recent demands for relief would thus be “on top”, i.e. aimed at additional aid.