German cabinet approves 24 TWh strategic gas reserve, funded by a consumer levy

What the reserve is for

The federal cabinet approved a draft law on Wednesday, 11 November, establishing a strategic gas reserve of 24 terawatt hours (TWh). The economy ministry, led by Katherina Reiche (CDU), says that volume is about ten percent of Germany's storage capacity. The reserve may only be drawn on after the gas emergency level has been declared, and the draft names sabotage and rare large-scale events as the scenarios it is built for. The reserve is meant to keep industrial customers supplied and to avoid temperature rules for public and private buildings. The draft sizes the reserve against several failure cases, including 30 days without the most important import infrastructure and 20 days without all Norwegian pipeline imports. The build-up should be as quick as possible, although it may stretch over up to three years, and Reiche is pushing for the law to take effect by February 2027.

“The gas reserve serves crisis prevention for extreme cases, sabotage and rare large-scale events.”

Who pays

The reserve will first be financed through a KfW loan covering gas purchases, transport and injection, but end customers will ultimately pay through a levy. The ministry puts the average household gas price at 11 to 12 cents per kilowatt hour and estimates the levy would add 0.03 to 0.05 cent per kWh, or 0.3 to 0.5 percent of gas supply costs. For a typical multi-family household using about 13,000 kWh a year, that means 3.77 to 6.11 euros annually, while a single-family house using 20,000 kWh would pay 5.80 to 9.40 euros. The total annual cost is estimated at 247 to 405 million euros, with roughly 40 percent borne by household and commercial customers and roughly 60 percent by industrial customers. The one-off build cost is put at 1.26 to 1.81 billion euros, and the first levy period starts on 1 October 2027. The VKU municipal utilities association, through managing director Ingbert Liebing, demanded that the reserve be paid from the federal budget instead, arguing that a levy adds to the burden on consumers and gas suppliers.

Household and commercial customers40%

Industrial customers60%

Household and commercial customers

40 %

Industrial customers

60 %

Data from the article text

Storage and missed targets

Gas storage facilities were 58.5 percent full on 9 November according to the European AGSI data platform, compared with 74.8 percent a year earlier and 96.9 percent in 2024.

2024-11-0996.9%

2025-11-0974.8%

2026-11-0958.5%

2024-11-09

96.9 %

2025-11-09

74.8 %

2026-11-09

58.5 %

Data from the article text

The storage fill target was an average level of 70 percent by 1 November, and it was not reached. The existing fill rules will not be extended and are due to expire at the end of March 2027. The economy ministry and the Federal Network Agency say storage has lost importance because of additional imports of liquefied natural gas, and a ministry spokeswoman had stressed that gas supply for the winter is secured. Michael Kellner, a Green Party politician and former economy state secretary, criticised the ministry for acting late and told Reuters:

“The storage facilities are at a historic low this year. The ministry is acting too late.”

Further measures and criticism

The ministry is preparing further steps, including supplier obligations for winter supply. Under a planned EU energy security framework, it is examining whether to tighten the responsibility of gas suppliers, possibly through sanction-backed supplier obligations. A set of key points from the ministry also provides for continued tenders to hedge gas reserves, better monitoring of the supply situation by the Federal Network Agency, and possible rules for gas supply to power plants and key industrial sites. The government also intends to examine targeted relief for energy-intensive companies and will approach the European Commission on this. The ministry insists that market players remain responsible for winter preparation, delivery obligations and consumption volumes, even in a very cold winter.