Germany Economy Minister Robert Habeck has asked the utility firms to increase the gas prices for the customers, which in turn will help in lowering the demand for natural gas.
This development comes after the head of the International Energy Agency warned Europe that Russia is planning to cut off the gas exports to the region starting this winter.
The governments have been asked to work on reducing the demand for fuels and keeping the nuclear power plants open.
Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency has mentioned that there will be a reduction in supplies in the coming weeks as Gazprom announced that they will be cutting the deliveries via the pipeline by around 40%, stating the reason behind this as “maintenance work”.
This in turn could be the beginning of a huge shortage by preventing the filing of the storage facilities in order to prepare for the upcoming winter season.
Commenting on this, Robert Habeck has stated that the Russian energy plant Gazprom’s decision to cut supplies of natural gas to the European countries was a “political” move.
When asked if gas rationing would be needed, Habeck said, “Hopefully never” but added, “Of course, I cannot rule it out.”
With this news, the EU countries are rushing to refill the storage sites. Germany plans to reach 90% of its capacity by November.
In response to their decision to put sanctions on the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine, numerous EU members have seen Moscow limit or even stop their gas deliveries in recent weeks.