Winter is coming: German agency head warns of gas shortages, bankruptcies, and massive price hikes that will send ‘shockwaves throughout the country’
Inflation is already taking its toll on the German economy, but next winter is now being described in near apocalyptic terms by one prominent German agency head
A gas shortage and high prices will send “shockwaves through the country,” leading to landlords cutting the heat for tenants and widespread company bankruptcies, warned Klaus Müller, the head of Germany’s Federal Network Agency, which is the regulatory office for electricity, gas, telecommunications, postal services, and railway markets.
Müller paints a bleak picture about the crisis in an interview with German newspaper Rheinische Post, saying it will “send shockwaves throughout the country. Banks will ramp up their business with installment loans, and ailing companies will fall into insolvency.”
Müller’s office, which is a federal agency within the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, has a bird’s eye view of the economic situation in Germany and also special insight into how economic conditions will develop into the future.
As Germany prepares for crisis, one German energy expert is warning of a situation “where markets simply stop functioning”
Müller says he expects gas prices to continue to climb, resulting in increased inflation that goes far beyond energy. He also warns that there will be a dramatic lack of gas in the winter, which could lead to landlords turning down the heat to save on energy. In turn, Germans may have to grapple with colder apartments.
In a sign that the German government is operating under the assumption that a potential crisis could develop in winter, there are already talks about potentially lowering heating requirement for landlords.
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