Comments on the draft bill to extend the provisions of Part 3a and to amend Section 49b (1) sentence 1 of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG)

The regulations of Part 3a of the EnWG with the requirements on gas storage levels are to be extended until April 2027. This is based in particular on the fact that the onshore LNG terminals are expected to come on stream in mid-2027, from which point a further easing of the supply situation can be expected. The transmission system operators expressly support this approach. It has been shown that the legal regulations are suitable for the safe filling of gas storage facilities in Germany.

The intended amendment to Section 49b (1) Sentence 1 of the German Energy Industry Act (EnWG), which is intended to allow an extension of the temporary higher utilization of the electricity grid until the end of March 2027, is to be expressly welcomed as a measure that makes sense in terms of energy and the economy. Nevertheless, the temporary increase in capacity utilization associated with an acquiescence obligation represents a considerable expense for the TSO, which is not adequately taken into account by law. In the absence of concrete legal regulations, the contractual arrangements between the transmission system operator and the TSO are still subject to various uncertainties (e.g., the extent of the obligation to bear costs). In addition, the short-term approval of the necessary protection and safeguard measures also represents an additional burden for the TSO in the absence of legally manifested acceleration regulations. Therefore, the consequences for the affected operators of technical infrastructures must be given greater focus. The TSOs made concrete proposals for this in the course of the hearing with the associations.

The complete statement of the FNB Gas is available in the downloads.