German Federal Ministry of Economics Plans State Gas Reserve – Consumers to Pay via Surcharge

The costs for building up, purchasing, and injecting the gas into the reserve are estimated at 1.2 to 1.5 billion euros and are to be spread across the years 2027 and 2028. In addition, ongoing costs of 150 to 180 million euros per year would be incurred, including for storage capacities, transport, and administration. According to an insider, the billion-euro costs are to be financed through a surcharge on gas consumers, not from the federal budget.

Financing via Consumer Surcharge

The gas reserve is intended to expand the toolkit of the Federal Network Agency. "In einer Gasmangellage ist die Behörde für Eingriffe zuständig," the concept states. The reserve is explicitly not intended to serve seasonal winter supply. "Die Reserve solle ausdrücklich nicht der saisonalen Winterversorgung dienen. Dies bleibe Aufgabe von Händlern, Lieferanten und Versorgern," the paper emphasizes. The reserve is "strikt vom Markt getrennt" and is intended as a supplement.

According to internal calculations, 24 terawatt hours could cover around 18 days of full supply for households and commerce in a normal winter. In an extreme winter with the failure of all pipeline and LNG imports, it would be around ten days. In addition, according to the ministry's plans, the reserve is to cover a 30-day outage of the largest import infrastructure. "Abgesichert werden soll dem Insider zufolge ein 30-tägiger Ausfall der größten Importinfrastruktur, konkret des Anlandepunktes Dornum in Niedersachsen, über den ein großer Teil der norwegischen Pipeline-Lieferungen in Deutschland ankommt," the report states.

Criticism from the Opposition

According to the ministry, the reserve is designed as a pure emergency instrument. It is intended to avoid or delay supply bottlenecks, to prevent disconnections of individual industrial customers where possible, and to buy time for repairs or alternative imports. For extreme cases such as sabotage of infrastructure and a global gas shortage, the state is to take preventive action with it.

Economics Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU) had previously described such a reserve as an emergency instrument. The ministry also points to Austria, where a gas reserve already exists. It was recently extended until 2029. There too, the model is considered a supplement to the market.

Michael Kellner, the energy policy spokesman for the Greens, told Reuters: "Es ist richtig, eine Gasreserve einzuführen. Die angedachte Befüllung im nächsten Jahr kommt allerdings für diesen Winter zu spät. Hier droht erneut eine Zitterpartie." The opposition thus sees ongoing risks for the 2026/2027 heating period.

According to the internal timetable, the Bundestag could debate the project for the first time at the end of September. "Angestrebt werde den Reuters-Angaben zufolge ein Kabinettsbeschluss Mitte August," the agency further reports. The regulation could thus come into force on January 1, 2027. An initial filling of the reserve is planned for the summer of 2027. The procurement of the gas is to extend over several years.