As the Federal Governments seeks to secure the heat and energy supply in the coming winter, a temporary gas security surcharge will be levied from October this year. This surcharge will initially be 2.4 cents (from October 1) as the market area manager Trading Hub Europe (THE) announced today. The aim is to mitigate the German and European energy crisis deliberately triggered by the Russian attack on Ukraine and to secure gas supplies for citizens and businesses. In parallel to the introduction of the gas surcharge, the Federal Government aims to at least in part alleviate the energy costs by providing further relief for citizens and extending aid programmes for industry.

The Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, said: "The surcharge is a consequence of Putin’s illegal war of aggression on Ukraine and the artificial energy shortage caused by Russia. It is by no means an easy step, but it is necessary to secure the heat and energy supply for homes and businesses. Otherwise, Germany’s security of supply would be at risk. But first, the surcharge must and will be accompanied by another relief package. Energy prices have risen sharply across the board as a result of the Russian war of aggression. Especially for those who do not have much, this is a heavy burden that is difficult or impossible to bear. The Federal Government has already agreed on initial steps such as expanding housing benefits to include a heating allowance. However, I believe that further targeted relief is needed. In this crisis, we must protect the democratic consensus in socio-political terms. Second, the Federal Government is fully aware that the surcharge is not ultimately intended to generate higher VAT revenues for the state. We’ll find a way to ensure that this will not create an additional burden."  

The background to the surcharge is the energy shortage artificially created by Russia. For example, gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline were reduced without any justified technical reason. To make up for the missing gas supplies, gas importers must now buy gas on the spot market at significantly higher prices than agreed to continue to meet the gas needs of private households and businesses. This may result in high losses for many of them that cannot be offset, making it likely that there will be insolvencies and large-scale supply disruptions in the gas market. To prevent such a scenario, the majority of the costs they incur to purchase gas from alternative sources are to be borne jointly by all gas suppliers from October this year, who can then pass them on to end customers, i.e. private households and businesses. Until the end of September, gas importers will virtually bear the costs on their own. The purpose of the surcharge is explicitly not to protect the owners of the energy companies from losses of value. The surcharge has been adopted by the German government in the form of an ordinance; the legal basis is Section 26 of the revised Energy Security of Supply Act.

Overall, the Federal Government is making extensive efforts to stabilise the gas supply to ensure security of supply. For example, it is working to rapidly build LNG infrastructure to replace Russian gas imports. It is ensuring that gas reservoirs are sufficiently filled in the coming heating season and that substitute volumes of gas can be purchased. In addition, the Federal Government is working to safeguard the functioning of the gas market in order to maintain the gas supply, for example through credit programmes and government shareholdings in Uniper, the largest gas importer on the German market.

More about the surcharge

The surcharge is set to expire on 1 April 2024. It can be adjusted every three months based on the actual costs. Its amount is determined in each case by the market area manager THE. Auditors or other experts specified in the ordinance must attest to the accuracy of the cost calculations. The Federal Network Agency will assist the process as an independent authority and check the plausibility of the calculations, including a detailed review as part of the final invoicing.

Gas importers who want to benefit from the surcharge because of the high costs they incur to purchase gas to make up for lost Russian gas imports were able to claim 90 per cent of their anticipated additional procurement costs from THE. To be eligible for the surcharge, two requirements must be met. First, compensation claims for extra costs for substitute gas purchases may only be made for physical gas deliveries to the German market; second, claims may only be made for gas volumes that have been committed in existing contracts that are related to Russian gas supplies. This means that the supply contracts must have been concluded before 1 May 2022.

A total of twelve gas importers have submitted the costs they incurred for purchasing gas from other sources to THE. Related to the period from the introduction of the surcharge through to early April 2024, these gas importers have claimed costs of €34 billion; this represents 90 per cent of the expected costs of purchasing substitute volumes of gas for that period. Based on the total of these costs, the amount of the surcharge was determined using the calculation method specified in the statutory ordinance. The calculation has been carried out based on forecast values. At the end of the surcharge period, the invoicing will be done based on the actual costs.

More information

About THE: Trading Hub Europe is a company operated by the long-distance gas transmission system operators in Germany, which operates on a non-profit basis and is responsible for the technical functioning of the German gas market.

You can find a detailed FAQ list on the gas security surcharge here.