Apparently, the federal government's appeals to save gas are not yet having an effect on many consumers. The President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, warned in Bonn: "Gas consumption increased too much last week."

According to the figures from the supervisory authority, the gas consumption of private households and smaller commercial customers in the 39th calendar week was 618 gigawatt hours, almost 10 percent above the average consumption level for the years 2018 to 2021. According to the Federal Network Agency, the consumption of industrial customers last week was 1370 Gigawatt hours are only a good 2 percent below the level of previous years.

Germany will hardly be able to avoid a gas emergency in winter without at least 20 percent savings in the private, commercial and industrial sectors, emphasized Müller. "The situation can become very serious if we don't significantly reduce our gas consumption."

Private households and smaller commercial customers are responsible for around 40 percent of gas consumption in Germany. The remaining 60 percent are accounted for by large industrial customers.