The German government is introducing a so-called gas levy. Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) expects additional costs of several hundred (!) euros per household. This step is “necessary to protect gas suppliers from bankruptcy,” he says. This levy will be imposed in addition to higher gas prices consumers will be forced to pay anyway. The gas bills will be up to €2,000 more for a 4-person household for the winter season. For millions of very-low-income households, all of this amounts to 1.5 of their monthly incomes.
Gas customers will likely have to pay a new levy starting in October, because of the rapid rise in prices for gas imported from countries other than Russia, which the government is pushing. With the levy, the government is allowing struggling importers to quietly pass on costs to households and industry, despite existing contracts!
The other aspect of the Habeck policy is drastic cuts in consumption of gas—in private households, the industry and in the public administration. As for the last, Hannover has been the first to take drastic measures to reduce energy consumption, announcing that henceforth public employees have to wash their hands with cold water at work. Moreover, the city’s residents will also have to brace for colder temperatures indoors, with the maximum room temperature in public buildings, including day-care centers, limited to 20° C (68°F). In sports halls, it cannot exceed 15° C (59° F) and external lights for town hall and other public buildings will be switched.
Whereas all of this leads nowhere, except straight into the abyss, resuming calls for not shutting down nuclear power are some light on the horizon. The most prominent caller for nuclear power has been Christian Democratic Union Chairman Friedrich Merz, who also recommended the development of thermonuclear fusion. His own party, however, supported the CDU-led government all the anti-nuclear way since the Fukushima incident 11 years ago….
