‘Heating halls’ planned in several German cities

In Ludwigshafen, for example, plans are now being made to open up halls in which citizens who can no longer afford to heat their apartments, can gather for a bit of heat. “We are currently preparing for all emergency scenarios with a view to autumn and winter,” said Mayor Jutta Steinruck (SPD). The Friedrich-Ebert-Halle will serve as the “central warm-up station”. There are also reports from Tuttlingen in Swabia and from Heidelberg about planned “heating halls”.

In order to deal with the dire gas shortage, Düsseldorf wants to cut heating in autumn and winter. In the case of hot water, the “availability in kitchens and sanitary facilities” should be reduced, a spokesman for the Bild newspaper said.

But there are also significant restrictions planned for summer. Three of the four indoor swimming pools in Nuremberg will be closed as this should save a total of 1,3 gigawatt hours of energy. “We have to prepare in good time for possible restrictions in the gas supply,” said CSU Mayor König.

Foreign Minister Baerbock (Greens) has been one of the most prominent agitators against Russia in the Ukraine conflict which has resulted in the current energy disaster facing Germany. At the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, for example, she announced that the aim of German government policy was to “ruin” Russia.

Her insistence has instead ruined many German households. The Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Companies (GdW) has already extrapolated the financial consequences of the exploding energy prices and warned: Single-person households must expect additional costs of almost 1000 euros to around 2700 euros. For four-person households, the association expects additional costs of 1800 euros to around 5000 euros. The above scenario is “rather realistic,” said GdW President Axel Gedaschko.

“We see massive social explosives here,” warned the GdW President. Averaged over all types of energy, a price increase of 37 percent was already achieved by May 2022. For a one-person household, that alone results in an additional burden of 508 euros per year compared to last year.

Information from various energy providers showed the price increases for all energy sources were likely to range between 71 and almost 200 percent, according to the GdW. If the third stage of the gas emergency plan is implemented, there is a risk of gas price increases of up to 400 percent. Because in this case contractual agreements, which have so far protected individual companies from passing on the entire cost increase, could be annulled. “Neither the tenants nor the socially oriented housing companies can afford that,” warned Gedaschko.