Germans Urged to Prep for Gas Shortage 07/02 08:39

   

   BERLIN (AP) -- Fearing Russia might cut off natural gas supplies, the head 
of Germany's regulatory agency for energy called on residents Saturday to save 
energy and to prepare for winter, when use increases.

   Federal Network Agency President Klaus Mueller urged house and apartment 
owners to have their gas boilers and radiators checked and adjusted to maximize 
their efficiency.

   "Maintenance can reduce gas consumption by 10% to 15% ," he told Funke 
Mediengruppe, a German newspaper and magazine publisher.

   Mueller said residents and property owners need to use the 12 weeks before 
cold weather sets in to get ready. He said families should start talking now 
about "whether every room needs to be set at its usual temperature in the 
winter -- or whether some rooms can be a little colder."

   The appeal came after Russia reduced gas flows to Germany, Italy, Austria, 
the Czech Republic and Slovakia earlier this month, as European Union countries 
scramble to refill storage facilities with the fuel used to generate 
electricity, power industry and heat homes in the winter.

   Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom blamed a technical problem for 
the reduction in natural gas flowing through Nord Stream 1, a pipeline which 
runs under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.

   The company said equipment getting refurbished in Canada was stuck there 
because of Western sanctions over Russia's war in Ukraine.

   German leaders have rejected that explanation and called the reductions a 
political move in reaction to the European Union's sanctions against Russia 
after it invaded Ukraine.

   Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, who is also Germany's economy and climate 
minister and responsible for energy, has warned a "blockade" of the pipeline is 
possible starting July 11, when regular maintenance work is due to start. In 
previous summers, the work has entailed shutting Nord Stream 1 for about 10 
days, he said.

   The question is whether the upcoming regular maintenance of the Nord Stream 
1 gas pipeline will turn into "a longer-lasting political maintenance," the 
energy regulator's Mueller said.

   If the gas flow from Russia is "to be lowered for a longer period of time, 
we will have to talk more seriously about savings," he said.

   According to Mueller, in the event of a gas supply stoppage, private 
households would be specially protected, as would hospitals or nursing homes.

   "I can promise that we will do everything we can to avoid private households 
being without gas," he said, adding: "We learned from the coronavirus crisis 
that we shouldn't make promises if we're not entirely sure we can keep them."

   He said his agency "does not see a scenario in which there is no more gas 
coming to Germany at all."

   Also on Saturday, German chemical and consumer goods company Henkel said it 
was considering encouraging its employees to work from home in the winter as a 
response to a possible supply shortage.

   "We could then greatly reduce the temperature in the offices, while our 
employees could heat their homes to the normal extent," Henkel CEO Carsten 
Knobel told daily newspaper Rheinische Post.

   Hamburg's state government's senator for the environment also expressed 
concern and said he couldn't rule out that the northern German city would need 
to limit hot water for private households in the event of a gas shortage.

   "In an acute gas shortage emergency, hot water could only be made available 
at certain times of the day," Jens Kerstan told weekly newspaper Welt am 
Sonntag.

   Earlier this month, economy minister Habeck activated the second phase of 
Germany's three-stage emergency plan for natural gas supplies, warning that 
Europe's biggest economy faced a "crisis" and storage targets for the winter 
were at risk.