EU ministers agree on plan to cut gas consumption

Energy ministers from EU member states have agreed on a plan to reduce gas consumption over the coming winter. The 27 member states have agreed to use 15% less gas from August to April. The countries themselves can decide how they will proceed.

The 15% reduction is voluntary, but in the event of a shortage, the agreement can be turned into an obligation. If this obligation were to be imposed, all sorts of exceptions were also agreed upon for countries to avoid this requirement.

This concerns countries whose gas network is not connected to the networks of other Member States. They cannot then exchange the gas saved with other EU countries, writes the Council of the European Union. Countries that depend on gas for electricity generation are also exempt from the obligation in order to avoid problems with the electricity grid.

In addition, EU Member States can apply for an exemption if they have sufficiently stored their gas supply, if their critical industries are highly dependent on gas or if their gas consumption has increased by at least 8% during the past year compared to the average of the last five years.

With the emergency plan, EU countries want to prevent households and essential facilities such as hospitals from running out of gas if Russia decides to supply less or no gas at all.