Klaus Müller, president of the Bundesnetzagentur, poses in front of the sign of the German Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Posts and Rail, in Bonn, Germany, June 10, 2022. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo
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BERLIN, July 2 (Reuters) – Germany’s energy regulator has listed priority areas that would protect access to electricity if there are severe gas shortages this winter, ranging from households and hospitals to pharmaceutical companies and paper makers.
A sharp cut in the supply of Russian gas through the Nord Stream pipeline has prompted authorities to make urgent preparations for a harsh winter.
“We cannot classify every business as systemically important,” Klaus Müller, head of Germany’s Federal Network Agency, told the Funke newspaper group in an interview published on Saturday.
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“Recreational products and services will be less important. . . . Swimming pools are clearly not critical, and neither is the production of chocolate chip cookies.”
Although households are the top priority, Mueller did not rule out the possibility of power outages.
“If it comes to rationing, we will have to reduce industrial consumption first,” he said.
“I can guarantee that we will do everything to avoid private households being left without gas. But we’ve learned from the coronavirus crisis that we shouldn’t make promises we’re not sure we’ll be able to keep.”
Russia blames technical difficulties stemming from sanctions on Nord Stream gas flows that have been halved in recent weeks, although German officials say the cuts are in retaliation for Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.
Industrial users will be prioritized according to the commercial, economic and social impact of any power outages, Muller said, adding that paper will remain critical for newspapers and medicine packaging.
“Freedom of the press is an important right: in a gas crisis there will be an extremely high demand for information,” he said.
Although Müller stressed that Germany is not facing a shortage of electricity, oil or gasoline, he said that households should still focus on energy conservation to reduce gas consumption.
Even if Russia shuts down gas flows entirely, pipeline supplies from Norway and the Netherlands will continue and liquefied natural gas (LNG) will also arrive from abroad, Müller added.
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Reporting by Thomas Eskrit Editing by David Goodman
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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