Germany's households and smaller companies consumed significantly less gas in the past week than in comparable periods of the previous year.
On average, 571 gigawatt hours were consumed per day and thus 29 percent less than the average of the same calendar weeks in the period 2018 to 2021, the Federal Network Agency announced on Thursday in Bonn.
The consumption of large companies is not included.
The chief of the authorities, Klaus Müller, justified the reduced consumption with the recent relatively warm weather.
Even with falling temperatures, savings will have to continue, emphasized Müller.
Late Wednesday evening it became known that the filling of Germany's gas storage facilities was making progress despite the lack of deliveries from Russia.
According to the website of Europe's gas infrastructure operators (GIE), the level rose by 0.28 percentage points to 94.97 percent within 24 hours.
According to a federal regulation, the facilities must be 95 percent full by November 1st.
This value has now almost been reached on average for all systems.
However, the regulation stipulates that each storage facility must comply with the 95 percent requirement.
This is not the case - some plants are already above this, but others are still below.
The storage should help so that Germany's companies, authorities and households get enough energy in the upcoming heating season.
In mathematical terms, however, the full gas storage facilities would only suffice for around two winter months to cover domestic demand.
Therefore, according to the Federal Network Agency, imports via liquid gas terminals and energy saving remain the order of the day.