As expected, Russia stopped gas deliveries via Nord Stream 1 to Europe on Wednesday night. Physical gas flow from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea pipeline fell to zero, data from entry point operators showed. The Russian state-owned company Gazprom announced almost two weeks ago that the pipeline would be closed from August 31 to September 2 for maintenance work. Russia blames technical problems caused by Western sanctions for stopping gas supplies, while Germany and France, for example, accuse Russia of using gas supplies as a weapon of war. Germany is particularly dependent on Russian gas and is desperately trying to find other suppliers.
In order to avoid high heating costs in old churches, the evangelical church is apparently considering unconventional measures. Significantly more congregations than before would move their services to the parish halls this winter, said the Bavarian Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm of the “Augsburger Allgemeine” on Wednesday.
“Smart space planning will also help – use a few heated spaces intensively, leaving others unheated,” he added. However, it is also to be seen what the corona situation will allow in winter.
Energy saving and climate protection have been important issues in the church for years. “The ecological transformation of our church is now becoming even more important,” said Bedford-Strohm in view of the energy crisis.
In view of the high burdens caused by the energy crisis and inflation, the municipal utilities in Germany are preparing for a sharp increase in the number of defaults on the part of customers. “Until now, payment defaults have been less than one percent. Many municipal utilities are now pricing in losses of up to eight percent. But there are also municipal utilities that calculate bad debt losses of up to 15 percent. That then becomes threatening,” says Ingbert Liebing, Managing Director of the Association of Municipal Enterprises (VKU), the newspapers of the Funke media group. Liebing calls for a moratorium on insolvency applications for energy suppliers.
In addition, relief is still needed in the fall. In concrete terms, Liebing proposes reducing the value-added tax not only for gas but also for electricity and heat to seven or five percent and reducing the electricity tax to the permissible minimum. In addition, those who are just above the transfer reference must be specifically helped. “The proven instruments such as housing benefit and heating subsidies must be used. The income limits should be increased in order to expand the group of recipients.”