The residents of the German city Hamburg have been warned that warm water may be rationed this Winter if the country runs out of natural gas. Russia has reduced exports to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by around 60 per cent.
The pipeline is due to shut down for ten days from next Monday for scheduled maintenance. The German government is concerned that the Russians will turn the taps off for longer to push the country into recession.
According to The Times:
If Germany begins to run out of gas it will in theory be industrial firms, particularly in the energy-poor south, that bear the brunt.
However, ordinary Germans are also being urged to use less energy.
Newspaper columns and TV talkshow guests have been arguing about the appropriate length and temperature of showers after Robert Habeck, the economy minister, said he had shortened his ablutions.
Yesterday Hamburg, Scholz’s home town, became the first German region to raise the prospect of restrictions on domestic hot water.
“If we don’t succeed in saving enough gas through the big industrial companies we could be confronted with limited deliveries, which might affect individual parts of the city,” Jens Kerstan, the city energy minister, told Welt am Sonntag.
“Warm water might only be available at particular times.”
Water rationing, food rationing, travel rationing. A great man called Jim Marrs once told me that Smart homes would be sold to populations as a means to reduce bills and save energy when in reality the technology would be used to monitor and control everything we do.
God I miss him.
