Notification period to cut off German gas grid users should be halved to 5 years – association
Clean Energy Wire
Local utilities in Germany should be able to give customers a five-year notice of planned disconnections from the gas grid, instead of the ten-year minimum notice period currently planned, industry association VKU said in a statement as the consultation period for a draft law to phase out gas grids ended.
“In view of the advanced, communicated and politically desired plans in many municipalities this period is too long in individual cases,” VKU head Ingbert Liebing said. Where heating networks already exist, operators should not be forced to run gas networks in parallel for such a long period of time, Liebing added.
Germany is preparing the law reform to enable local utilities to phase out gas grids as they plan for a climate neutral future. Gas grid operators have to decide whether to decommission their grid or convert it to run on greener gases such as biomethane, or hydrogen.
Under the reform, utilities would be able to disconnect gas users from the grid if a decline in demand is expected within ten years, which would make conversion or decommissioning necessary. They would need to inform affected users well in advance and provide information on alternatives and subsidies.
“It must also be made clearer that network operators are not responsible for alternative heat supply,” Kerstin Andreae, head of energy industry association BDEW, commented. A call VKU also made, saying that legislators should limit the scope of information to what the network operator can actually provide.
The VKU also urged Germany's government to draw up clear financing rules for hydrogen distribution networks for companies located off Germany's hydrogen core grid that need gas-based energy carriers for their operations. Otherwise, projects outside the core network could be postponed or not implemented at all, the association warned.
“There is still no financing mechanism, which is essential for the successful transformation of the gas distribution networks,” the association wrote in response to the law. “Without such a mechanism, network operators would have to bear the full risk of a transformation.”
Both associations welcomed plans allowing decommissioned grids to remain in place unless clear justification for dismantling is given, arguing this would reduce costs.
As Germany nears its 2045 net-zero deadline, fossil gas will have to be largely phased out. Large German cities have until mid-2026 to present their municipal heating plans, detailing where what kind of heating networks will be available, and by when.
