It has been foreseeable since the beginning of July at least that Uniper and other gas suppliers would run out of air.
At that time, the federal government decided against the obvious solution: activating an emergency clause.
It would have made it possible to pass on the drastically increased procurement costs directly to the customer - of course socially cushioned to prevent the worst hardship.
But the political courage was lacking.
Instead, there was unspeakable tugging about an allegedly “fairer” apportionment that applied equally to all customers.
The government bought gas consumers time – but taxpayers are now paying an extremely high price for this with the complete nationalization of Uniper.
Equity, loans and the repayment of loans from the still parent company Fortum add up to unbelievable amounts.
All in all, around 30 billion euros come together - with a current market value of 1.5 billion euros.
And the prospects remain bleak for the time being.
As Uniper CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach calculates, further losses of around 10 billion euros are likely to accumulate by the end of the year, 90 percent of which will be offset by the levy from October.
hope for hydrogen
Never before has there been such a tour de force to rescue a company.
But in the current situation there is now no alternative to the takeover by the federal government.
Uniper plays a key role in the entire energy supply, not just in the gas market, where around a quarter of consumption is handled by the Ruhrgas successor, which was once split off from Eon.
Instead of pipeline gas from Russia, the group is now procuring liquid gas on a large scale and is building the first German LNG import terminal in Wilhelmshaven.
The Uniper power plants are also in demand like never before.
His coal-fired power plant in Heyden was the first to be taken out of reserve.
Electricity generation is making big profits and helping mitigate some of the losses from the gas business.
However, it is more than questionable whether she will have a future in the group after nationalization.
The company primarily generates electricity from gas and coal and also has interests in several Swedish nuclear power plants.
It is a mixture that is unlikely to be compatible with the federal government's energy policy requirements.
Hopefully, business sense will not be lost in the process.
With a hasty spin-off of politically unpopular fossil and nuclear businesses, Uniper would only get even deeper into the maelstrom.
A particularly big toad are the holdings in Russia that are being allocated to the federal government, the sale of which is currently likely to be hopeless.
Hopes for the future are associated with the switch from natural gas to hydrogen.
The first preliminary contracts have been signed, and the necessary import infrastructures are being set up in Germany and the Netherlands.
This conversion of the energy system will take many years.
For this reason alone, a quick exit, as in the case of Lufthansa, is unthinkable.
The covenant has come to stay a long time.