Draft law sets a 24 TWh reserve

The Federal Economy Ministry under Katherina Reiche (CDU) is preparing a national gas reserve against extreme cases, according to a draft law with a status date of 12 October. The draft states its purpose in these words:

The gas reserve serves crisis preparedness for extreme cases, sabotage and rare major events.

The draft targets 24 terawatt-hours, the same volume a ministry spokeswoman announced in early July as 24 billion kilowatt-hours, about ten percent of German storage capacity. It says the reserve would cover a 30-day failure of Germany's largest gas import infrastructure. Only the Federal Network Agency could release the reserve, and only after it declares an emergency level, when it would decide how the reserve is used.

Scenarios behind the volume

The draft names four scenarios the reserve is meant to bridge. These are 20 days without all Norwegian pipeline imports and 40 days without German LNG terminals. The other two are full supply to households and businesses after all imports fail: 10 days in an extremely cold winter and 18 days in a normal winter. The draft also states that the reserve should not have a negative effect on market-based winter preparation.

How the levy would be set

The reserve would be financed through a levy on gas customers, and the market area manager would set its height anew each year for each levy period. The draft puts the costs of the first ten years at 247 million to 308 million euros per year. For a typical household the draft estimates 3.77 to 7.20 euros a year, while a single-family home using 20,000 kilowatt-hours would pay 5.80 to 7.20 euros, or 0.03 to 0.04 cents per kilowatt-hour. Ministry calculations cited by Berliner Zeitung give 0.029 to 0.036 cents per kilowatt-hour, with 10,000 kilowatt-hours costing 2.90 to 3.60 euros and 30,000 kilowatt-hours costing 8.70 to 10.80 euros a year. Reiche had earlier floated funding from the federal budget or a mixed model, and coalition factions from the Union and the SPD had criticised the levy approach.

Old levy and timetable

The new levy follows the abolition of the gas storage levy on 1 January 2026, which stood at 0.289 cents per kilowatt-hour and came to about 57.80 euros a year for 20,000 kilowatt-hours. The planned levy would be roughly one eighth to one tenth of that amount. Storage fill-level requirements introduced in 2022 after Russian deliveries ended expire on 31 March 2027, and a study commissioned by the ministry found they hinder efficient, market-based winter preparation. Reserve construction is set to begin in 2027 after the law change, and the first levy period starts on 1 October 2027.

Greens back the levy

The Greens welcomed the plan and its financing route. Their energy policy spokesman, Michael Kellner, told Reuters:

The levy financing is right.

He added that the reserve comes too late for this year. The ministry had not commented on the state of the legislative process when the reports appeared.