Germany to turn down the heating this winter

Gas line technician

The German government has approved a set of energy-saving measures for the winter which will limit the use of lighting and heating in public buildings.

The government aims to reduce gas usage by 2% through the new rules.

Germany’s economy minster said the rules could save private households, companies and the public sector around €10.8bn (£9.1bn) over two years.

It is part of efforts to reduce the country’s dependency on Russian gas.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Germany got 55% of its gas from Russia but its has reduced this to 35% and vowed to end imports completely.

However, Germany remains a huge market for Moscow and paid almost €9bn (£7.7bn; $9.6bn) for Russian oil and gas in the first two months of the war.

Russia has also reduced flows of gas through the key Nordstream 1 pipeline to Germany to 20% of capacity, stoking fears it may turn off the taps this winter.

Germany’s Economy Minister Robert Habeck told reporters on Wednesday: “Overall the [new] measures save energy. However, not to the extent that we can sit back and say, ‘That’ll do now.'”

“We want to free ourselves as quickly as possible from the grip of Russian energy imports,” Mr Habeck said.

Brandenburg Gate in Berlin had its lights turned off in July

Starting from September, public buildings apart from institutions like hospitals, are to be heated to a maximum of 19C and the heating may be turned of completely in entrances, corridors and foyers.

Public monuments and buildings will also not be lit up for aesthetic reasons and businesses could be banned from keeping their shops illuminated at night.

Under the measures, private swimming pool heating could also be banned.

The country will also give coal and oil cargo priority over passenger travel on railways meaning passengers will have to wait.

“We have a shortage situation on the rails right now,” Transport Minister Volker Wissing said. “That means that if additional fuel transports are temporarily necessary we would have to prioritise them.”

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Boosting storage capacity

Germany also plans to run publicity campaigns to tell locals how they can cut down on their own consumption.

Amid concerns about winter shortages, the country is setting up two liquefied natural gas terminals on its North Sea coast to improve capacity for storage.

Separately, Switzerland’s energy minister has said it would “certainly make sense” for the country to align with a European Union plan to voluntarily cut gas use this winter in order to prevent an energy shortage.

Most EU member states have committed to voluntarily reduce gas use by 15% this winter – although this will become mandatory if there are serious shortages.

Switzerland’s electricity commission has also recommended that households should stock up on candles in case of blackouts in the winter caused by changes in Russian supplies.

Earlier this month Swiss energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said she would try to enact a plan to have the heating turned down in public buildings.