Germany fell a long way short of its gas savings target of 20 percent last week, when consumption rose due to cold weather, said the Federal Network Agency for Utilities. It warned that usage must come down again if a national gas shortage is to be avoided this winter.

Klaus Muller, Head of the Federal Network Agency for Utilities, said the total energy savings are only around 13 percent after a successful autumn of low consumption.

The European Commission has set a weekly target of a 15 percent reduction in energy usage. However, Germany's gas inventories are still above the seasonal average and the country is struggling to keep those tanks full following sanctions on Russia that cuts imports from the country.

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It has been a delicate balancing act for Berlin to keep up with energy demands of the country, while also striving to become net-zero by 2045. 

Berlin has already announced it would keep the three remaining nuclear plants running until at latest mid April, well beyond their original retirement date of December 30th.

And now the country's main energy company Uniper has said it will extend the commercial operations of two more of its coal-fired plants until March 2024, which will make Germany one of the few nations to increase coal imports next year. 

Renewable energy scheme

However, Germany has just begun operating its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, which will now allow the country to import natural gas from a wide number of exporting countries. It was previously dependent on expensive gas supplies from Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands.

The country's push towards renewable energy production has also just been given a boost as the European Union has approved its $30 billion renewable energy scheme. It is expected to rapidly expand the production of wind and solar power.

According to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, the country increased its renewable energy generation by 2.9 percent on an annual basis in the third quarter of this year.

But it still has a long way to go to replace the 55 percent of oil and gas it was importing from Russia prior to the start of the conflict in Ukraine, leaving Germany reliant on fossil fuels for a few more years.