Germany waives gas storage fees outside of the country starting Jan. 1, 2025

The German lower house of Parliament passed on Friday a change in energy law that will waive the domestic market storage fee at border points and virtual trading centers, effective Jan. 1, 2025. This will free foreign consumers from a costly element of price.

Parliament approved the law change based on its incompatibility with European energy solidarité and to help south-western neighbors diversify their gas supply away from Russian gas.

The levy that Trading Hub Europe (THE) charges domestic gas consumers will increase by 20%, to 2,99 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh), on January 1, 2025.

Austria, Czech Republic, and Slovakia feared that the fall of Germany's coalition in November would delay the law changes they successfully sought earlier this year.

Germany agreed

In May,

To scrape the tariff on foreigners, but to implement the relevant laws change.

The move allows foreign buyers to avoid extra costs, at a moment when cold weather and low output from renewables have already driven European gas prices up by 1 year.

The charge is part of the government mandate for 2022 to fill or empty portions of Germany's large gas caverns infrastructure to create energy security following the Ukraine invasion that led to Russia's Westward Gas Exports being curtailed.

The mandate of THE includes a routine revision of the gas charge once every six months.

Germany is the EU's leading gas storage nation with 23 billion cubic meters of underground storage. Vera Eckert and Friederike Heine edited the article.

(source: Reuters)