"The Commission has proposed today to prolong emergency legislation on measures to reduce gas demand by 15% for another 12 months. With the existing regulation, agreed in July 2022, expiring at the end of March, Commission analysis shows that it is important to continue this provision for another year in order to avoid security of supply issues next winter," the commission said in a statement.
Further reductions in gas demand, supplemented by additional supplies of liquefied natural gas and pipeline gas from other countries, as well as new renewable energy capacity installed starting in early 2022, are needed to fully offset Russian gas supplies, the statement read.
Continuing the 15% reduction in April for another year will be enough to reach 90% filling of gas storage facilities by November 1 and guarantee no security-of-supply problems during next winter, according to the statement.
The introduction of such measures in July 2022 resulted in the saving of 19%, or 41.5 billion cubic meters of gas, between August 2022 and January 2023, helping to mitigate supply security problems to date, the statement read.
The proposal also includes one change: the commission and EU members should monitor and report savings per sector on a monthly basis, rather than total gas demand every two months, which would help states implement more targeted measures in the future if needed.
EU energy ministers are expected to discuss the proposal at the March 28 Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council meeting, according to the statement.