Many people are currently wondering how high their gas bill will be - also because gas importers will soon be able to pass on the higher purchasing costs to their customers.
Read all relevant answers to the most important questions in the overview.
What is the government preparing?
Christian Geinitz
Business correspondent in Berlin
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Julia Loehr
Business correspondent in Berlin.
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From October 1, gas importers will be allowed to pass on 90 percent of their higher purchasing costs to their customers.
The basis is Section 26 of the Energy Security Act, or EnSiG for short.
The Ministry of Economics has drawn up a gas price adjustment regulation for this, in which the procedure is regulated.
The surcharge is to apply from October 1, 2022 to April 1, 2024.
The Trading Hub Europe, which is responsible for the gas market, is to determine how high it is based on the reports from the importers by August 15th.
Robert Habeck (Greens) recently mentioned a range of 1.5 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour of gas.
For a four-person household with a consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours per year, that would be a surcharge of up to 1000 euros - in addition to the price increases that many utilities are announcing these days.
Is the 5 cents the upper limit?
no
On the one hand, the levy could be higher if the gas importers expect even higher procurement costs.
On the other hand, according to the current legal situation, 19 percent VAT is added to the levy.
Background: The assessment basis for sales tax is everything that the recipient of a service has to pay.
Even when the EEG levy on the electricity price still existed, it was also taxed.
Sales tax is also levied on the petroleum tax, which makes up a large part of the price of petrol.
A 5-cent gas surcharge would add up to 5.95 cents with sales tax, and an additional charge of 1,000 euros would become 1,190 euros.
Demands are coming from the CDU/CSU and FDP parliamentary groups that the government should abolish VAT on the levy.
The deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch also agreed on Thursday.
The Ministry of Finance said it was examining ways of not putting an additional burden on gas customers.
The Association of Municipal Enterprises (VKU) proposes reducing the VAT for electricity, gas and heat supplies to 7 percent.
This would be “more sensible and legally watertight”.
What applies to fixed-price contracts?
Many suppliers have fixed-price contracts with their customers that provide a price guarantee for a certain period of time.
According to industry estimates, this affects about a quarter of the contracts.
Price increases are then not really possible.
The government now wants to stipulate that the surcharge can also be demanded in such cases.
This will probably be regulated by the EnSiG or the Energy Industry Act.
However, this required a decision by the Bundestag and Bundesrat after the summer break, which could delay the introduction of the levy in these cases.
Because suppliers usually have to announce price increases six weeks in advance.
And what about district heating customers?
If an energy company uses gas to generate district heating, it has to pay the gas levy to its suppliers itself, but has not yet been able to pass it on to end customers because they do not purchase gas but heat.
That should also be changed.
Anyone who heats with district heating should therefore find out which energy source is the basis for it.
In some cases, waste heat from waste incineration plants or coal is used, in these cases customers do not have to fear a surcharge.
According to the energy association BDEW, in 2021 almost 47 percent of district heating was generated with gas.
How much gas do you need to save?
After the ordinance on the gas levy, the Ministry of Economics wants to initiate another one: the one on saving gas.
Habeck announced various measures at the end of July: Corridors and halls in public facilities and office buildings should not be heated, property owners should be obliged to have their heating checked.
Homeowners with a pool should no longer be allowed to heat it with gas.
Gas consumption is expected to drop by 15 to 20 percent.
How are other countries reacting?
The EU is working on an emergency plan so that member states can reduce their gas consumption by 15 percent by the end of March, initially on a voluntary basis.
In France, shops and restaurants are not allowed to leave their doors open when the air conditioning is on.
Neon signs are to be turned off at night.
The public administration only wants to turn on their cooling devices from a room temperature of 26 degrees and heaters at less than 19 degrees.
26 degrees also applies to authorities in Greece in summer, street lighting is reduced to a minimum.
In Italy, air conditioners are allowed to reduce the temperature in public buildings to no less than 27 degrees, the heating temperature is capped at 19 degrees.
Which country goes furthest?
Spain intervenes the most in the economy.
In the future, 27 degrees in summer and 19 degrees in winter will not only apply to public buildings, train stations and airports, but also to workplaces, department stores, cinemas and hotels.
Greenpeace sees these guidelines as a model.
"At the moment Robert Habeck is relying far too much on voluntariness, it takes too long and is not enough," said the executive director of Greenpeace Germany, Martin Kaiser, of the FAZ public administration in a targeted manner.” More home office work must also be done again: “We should think about hybrid models, 50 percent work in the office, 50 percent at home.” For apartments, it is right to lower the minimum temperature,
that owners have to offer their tenants.
If the heating temperature in Germany were reduced by one degree, that would save 6 percent of the heat.
Spain is a good example of how energy saving can be speeded up by law.