Iran war slows German gas storage refill, pushes household prices to three-year high
Clean Energy Wire / Finanztip
Rising gas prices due to the US-Israeli-led attack on Iran and the subsequent turmoil on international fossil fuel markets are a key hurdle to filling German gas storage facilities, and have driven household prices to their highest level in three years.
The situation is problematic for gas traders and energy suppliers, who normally buy gas cheaply in the summer and use it to fill storage facilities, said gas transmission grid operator association FNB Gas. In winter, when prices rise as Germans heat their homes, the gas is sold at a profit.
"Persistently high natural gas prices are removing the incentive for traders and suppliers to inject gas into storage," the organisation said. Currently, daily injection stands at less than 0.5 terawatt hours (TWh). Even with an injection rate of up to 1.2 TWh per day – the highest figure ever recorded in the market – reaching the German gas storage target for 1 November "is now virtually unachievable," said the organisation. Most storages must be filled 80 percent, while several large facilities must be filled 45 percent, bringing the average to about 70 percent.
Analysts warned in July that unusually low gas storage levels in Germany pose a supply security risk for Europe this coming winter, as the country’s planned national strategic reserve won’t be ready. Germany has the largest storage capacity for natural gas in the European Union, but facilities currently are only about 50 percent full, a record low for this time of year, according to FNB Gas.
High market prices also affect households. The cheapest available rate for new gas customers in Germany has increased by 23 percent since before the war started in February 2026, from about 9.4 cents per kilowatt-hour to 11.5 ct/kWh, consumer magazine Finanztip has said. In March 2023, a year after the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine, prices stood at 12 ct/kWh.
According to Finanztip, the latest price increase in the wake of the Iran war means the average household would pay over 300 euros more per year for its gas supply if the higher price level persists. While Germany’s gas supply does not directly rely on deliveries from the Persian Gulf region, where a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane has locked in large quantities of oil and gas shipments, the conflict in the Middle East still has repercussions for the country’s gas prices through international markets.
However, Finanztip energy expert Benjamin Weigl said the Iran war’s effects are not comparable to those caused by the war against Ukraine, which had led to fears over a possible gas shortage in Germany. Expecting gas prices to fall again soon would be an uncertain bet, Weigl said. “The price development over the coming months is impossible to predict, given the geopolitical situation,” he argued.
Weigl added that gas prices will likely see an upward trend also in the future due to higher grid fees and increased CO2 prices, meaning a switch of heating technologies is the only way households can shield themselves from volatile gas markets. “Homeowners with gas heating should inform themselves how they can change to a more climate friendly system, for example heat pumps,” Weigl said.