BERLIN, Nov. 10 (DPA/EP) –
The Lower House of the German Parliament approved this Thursday an emergency package with the aim of cushioning the impact of high gas prices and relieving the economies of German households.
The measure has to be voted on next Monday by the Upper House and aims to help not only households, but also small and medium-sized companies in the context of a general rise in prices that has been aggravated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. .
It is therefore the first step to limit gas prices in the country by introducing a cap that will apply from March next year, as reported by the Government of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the beginning of November.
Opposition Christian Democrat politician Mark Helfrich has criticized the initiative as “too complicated”, while the Conservative opposition bloc in Parliament has argued that the gas price cap should be retroactive to the start of the year.
Specifically, the second leg of the measure proposes introducing in March 2023, with retroactive effect on the February bill, a brake on the price of gas for homes and SMEs that will be in force until April 30, 2024, for which customers will receive up to 80 percent of their expected annual usage, based on the forecast to September 2022, at a cost of 12 cents per kilowatt hour. In the case of heating consumers, the maximum price will be 9.5 cents.
The German Government has thus decided to limit gas prices by introducing a cap that will apply from March next year, in addition to announcing emergency aid to cover the cost of gas bills in December for households and small businesses.
The emergency measure, whose estimated cost is around 9,000 million euros, will be financed within the framework of the “shield” of 200,000 million in aid to combat inflation. Specifically, end consumers of natural gas will not be required to make advance or installment payments corresponding to December 2022.
In the case of heating, due to the different contractual structures, the December relief will take the form of a lump sum payment based on the amount of the advance paid in September plus an adjustment factor.
Also, from January 2023, the price of electricity for households and small and medium-sized businesses will be limited to 40 cents per kilowatt hour, with a total cost of about 33,000 million euros.
