The recommendations of the Gas Commission must be improved. Small and medium-sized companies need an interim solution for the winter, or at least a hardship bridge.
"The countdown is on for us." This is how a butcher summed up his situation this week. At the beginning of the year, the family business still had a bright future. It is produced regionally. Customers were queuing. The successor for the fourth generation is secured. Only the skilled workers were missing. Only ten months later, there is no longer any certainty. Commodity prices have multiplied. Consumers think twice about buying the more expensive, welfare-based roast. And the tax consultant has just calculated that around 110,000 euros will also be incurred for gas and electricity in the coming year.
The company becomes a tightrope act. And thus stands as an example for medium-sized companies in Germany. At least 98 percent of the 3.5 million companies are small and medium-sized. They employ millions and millions of people and train disproportionately. The entrepreneurial families often assume responsibility on site. Sustainability is not a buzzword, but an attitude. Because it is thought in generations and not in annual accounts. Innovation has always been part of the identity of medium-sized companies. Competence, creativity and diligence formed the basis for surviving wars and crises.
But now companies of all sectors, regions and sizes are without a safety net or a double bottom. The consequences are noticeable and visible. The bankruptcy wave is picking up speed. Bakeries, foundries, but also brand manufacturers like Hakle are closing their doors. Production is being throttled across the board: steel 5 percent so far, chemicals 8 percent, fertilizers 70 percent. Anyone who is able to relocate abroad is at least considering it. More and more companies can no longer pay their bills on time. Creditreform is currently reporting that the default risk for companies is increasing almost every week. The economy is facing the abyss.
The crux of the matter is the unmanageable energy costs. Without relief, companies will not be able to shoulder the supply shock. So far, however, they have been forgotten in all traffic light packages. The reduction in sales tax on gas does not help companies entitled to input tax deductions. Liquidity aids are of no use to any company that lives off its substance. With the possibility of a tax-free payment of up to 3000 euros, the traffic light creates expectations among employees. However, it should be paid for by companies that can no longer do so. Lots of expensive flash in the pan, but no structural help whatsoever. Nothing. never. Nada.
The hope for the gas price brake was and is all the greater. That should make everything better. The expectations of the proposals of the expert commission convened by the federal government to cap the gas price were high. The disappointment on Monday was all the greater. If the plan of the expert commission were to be adopted by the traffic light, the cap would come too late for many companies.
What does the Commission say? For the energy-intensive industry with particularly high gas consumption, the procurement price for gas at the turn of the year should be slowed down to 7 cents per kilowatt hour - for 70 percent of the previous year's consumption. That is late. And by then, an irreversible decision against Germany as a location could be made in some corporate headquarters. But at least it's a perspective.
For the rest of the companies it means - wait. There will be a down payment in December. But this will not be more than a drop in the bucket. The actual gas and heat price brake should only come between March and the end of April. So it's nothing more than a vague promise until spring. October, November, January, February, March - SMEs have to see for themselves whether they will survive the winter of 2022/23 or not. The countdown is running.
The expert commission itself cannot be blamed. The members had to knit their interim report with a hot needle within a few hours. And that in a tight corset of specifications. In contrast, the Federal Government bears responsibility. Now it's taking revenge that the traffic light simply let the summer go by. Business, science and the opposition have been sounding the alarm since March. The Union presented a calculated model weeks ago. Done and ready to use. One may dismiss this. But where is the urgently needed relief?
The traffic light ignored warnings and suggestions. And preferred to tinker with the gas levy chaos project, only to stop it 34 hours before it came into effect. The remedy provided by the so-called energy cost containment program also vanished into thin air. Entire sectors have been forgotten. And the rest hardly received any permits. A reliable location policy looks different.
But countermeasures can still be taken and the damage can at least be contained. The Commission's recommendations need to be improved. The companies that do not benefit from the industrial gas price need an interim solution for the winter. As a minimum, medium-sized companies need a hardship bridge. The companies that no longer have equity capital must be able to bridge the months until the gas price brake comes into force. Fast, unbureaucratic, easy.
However, this would solve the basic problem: the supply shock on the energy market. Every child knows: the lower the offer, the higher the price. That's why every kilowatt hour has to be connected to the grid - without taboos. So far, the traffic light has done exactly the opposite. Nuclear energy is to be phased out, the expansion of renewable energy is failing due to local bureaucracy and the like. And in Europe, the stock market is happily gambling. The traffic light must now extend the runtimes for all nuclear power plants, order fuel rods and check which of the other power plants can be put back on the grid. It's not about re-entry. It's about economic survival. Dear traffic light, please stop the countdown.
