With nearly half of German homes relying on gas for heating, the country faces potential rationing if it fails to secure sufficient reserves.

Hard-coal output averaged 6.36 GW for Week 31 (Aug. 1-8), up 21% week-on-week, while gas fell 24% to 4.26 GW.

The incentive to reduce gas consumption is huge after Putin reduced supplies to Germany via the Nord Steam 1 pipeline. The Dutch TTF gas contract, a European benchmark, is trading above 205 euros ($209) per megawatt hour, 10 times its average in the decade through 2020 and equivalent to about $350 per barrel of oil.

“Such a collapse would have massive consequences for the entire economy and jobs in Germany.”

German leaders are stepping up warnings of impending turmoil and natural-gas shortages in Europe’s biggest economy, which relies on Russia for about one-third of its energy.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck will enact the “alarm” phase of the plan when he speaks at 10 a.m. local time Thursday on energy and supply security.

Germany, which relies on Russia for more than a third of its gas supplies, enacted the initial “early warning” phase at the end of March, when the Kremlin’s demands for payment in rubles prompted Germany to brace for a potential cutoff in supply.

The EU relied on Russia for as much as 40% of its gas needs before the war - rising to 55% for Germany - leaving a huge gap to fill in an already tight global gas market.

The plan includes increased reliance on coal-fired generation, an auction system to incentivise lower consumption in industry and €15bn in credit lines via the state-owned investment and development bank KfW for the country's gas market operators to fill gas storage facilities faster.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party alliance agreed at the end of March to cut the levy on fuel for three months from June 1 by 30 euro cents per liter for gasoline and 14 cents for diesel, costing the government about 3 billion euros ($3.1 billion) in lost revenue.