According to insiders, the expert commission set up by the federal government agreed on Monday morning on proposals for curbing the rise in gas prices.
After a night session, the commission decided on an interim report, said several people familiar with the negotiations.
According to information from the news magazine "Spiegel", the state is initially to "take over the respective advance payment of all gas standard load profile customers and district heating customers once in December".
According to Reuters, the report describes the first part of a two-step solution to cushion gas price hikes for consumers and businesses.
A second part will follow later as planned.
The Federal Ministry of Economics in Berlin announced early Monday morning that the expert commission had “successfully” completed its exam early Monday morning after around 35 hours.
"The Commission has drawn up a series of recommendations for the federal government and passed them unanimously." A recommendation on a gas price brake is expected.
Central rescue tool in the crisis
The three chairmen, the "economic sage" Veronika Grimm, the head of the Federation of German Industries, Siegfried Russwurm, the chairman of the Industrial Union for Mining, Chemicals and Energy (IG BCE), Michael Vassiliadis, were to present the recommendations in an interim report to the federal government in the morning submit, according to the ministry.
The proposals of the experts from associations, trade unions and science are to be presented to the public at 10.30 a.m. in the morning.
A government spokesman said on Friday that the federal government would deal with the proposals “immediately and intensively”.
The gas price brake is intended to be a central rescue tool for the federal government in the energy crisis.
On the one hand, it is intended to make the high gas prices more bearable for citizens and companies, and on the other hand to provide incentives to save energy, which is still necessary.
The traffic light coalition has announced a "defense shield" of up to 200 billion euros to support consumers and companies because of rising energy prices.
A gas price brake could cap the prices for at least part of consumption in such a way that private households and companies are not overwhelmed.
An “interim report” was announced.
Because the tasks of the commission with representatives from associations, trade unions, science and the Bundestag - whose official name is "Expert Commission for Gas and Heat" - go beyond the gas price brake.
The members are also to assess the extent of price increases due to the loss of Russian natural gas supplies until spring 2024.
In addition to national relief options, they should also examine “options for cushioning price developments at European level, taking into account price formation on world markets”.
Further meetings were planned for October 17th and 24th, and the final results of the work should be available by the end of the month