On his arrival at the Energy Council on Thursday 30 May, the German State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Sven Giegold, announced that the German government had agreed to abolish the gas storage neutrality charge (‘Gasspeicherumlage’) at border transfer points from 1 January 2025.
This announcement was made a few hours before a planned briefing on the subject at the Energy Council at the request of the Austrian, Czech, Slovak and Hungarian delegations.
These countries have been complaining for several months that the German charge, introduced in 2022 to offset the costs of gas purchases and storage during the energy crisis, is increasing costs for gas traders and disproportionately affecting these countries in central and eastern Europe, making them more dependent on gas imports from Russia (see EUROPE 13417/14).
“It was never our intention to hinder diversification away from Russian gas through this levy. On the contrary, the revenue from this charge, financed mainly by German customers, has helped to fill gas storage facilities and, in this way, to stabilise prices and markets. However, we have had discussions with our neighbours and we have realised that this poses problems for diversification away from Russian gas”, conceded Mr Giegold.
He added that the German government would continue to invest in additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity, “in the interests of our neighbours too”.
However, before the charge is repealed, a further increase is scheduled for 1 July 2024 (from €1.86 to €2.50/MWh), which, according to Mr Giegold, is mandatory under the existing legislative framework.
“We have checked this thoroughly. The increase is in the law and is virtually automatic”, he explained.
Before the German Secretary made his statement, the Czech Minister for Industry and Trade, Jozef Síkela, had explained to the press that Germany’s preliminary position was not consistent with its desire to reduce dependence on Russian gas imports.
In addition, the two countries have proposed setting up a high level group, headed by the European Commission, to complete the EU’s move away from Russian energy (see other news). Mr Síkela considered this proposal to be “in contradiction” with maintaining the charge on gas storage.
Austria’s Minister for Climate and Energy, Leonore Gewessler, said she was relieved to learn of her German neighbour’s decision.
“The fact that we are now tackling this charge on gas storage will remove a major obstacle to diversification, and that’s a good thing”, she said.
It should be noted that the maintenance of the charge, coupled with the expiry of the agreement for the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine, was also a concern for the security of supply of the entire Central and Eastern European region, as explicitly stated by Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)