The Federal Council has approved the energy price brakes. Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) said in the state chamber that price increases had the potential for a social crisis - the lid now gives citizens confidence that they will be able to pay their bills in the future. The state stands by the side of the citizens. On Thursday, the Bundestag passed the energy price brakes.

The price brakes for electricity and gas are intended to cushion the consequences of the sharp rise in prices for consumers and companies. The brakes are to apply to private households and small and medium-sized companies from March, with retrospective relief planned for January and February.

The prime ministers had put pressure on a "winter gap" in the relief to be closed. Weil said he's glad there's a consistent relief path. North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU), however, criticized that a "justice gap" in the case of oil and pellets was not being adequately closed.

For tenants there is a right to reduce the additional costs with the price brakes, as the SPD member of the Bundestag Zanda Martens told the "Bild" newspaper. Tenants must therefore receive the relief immediately from the landlord and may independently implement the reduction in the advance payment for operating costs indicated by the landlord. "Landlords are obliged to report how much the additional costs are reduced." From March onwards, tenants can simply omit this amount when making the rental transfer