German households will be prioritised in gas supply emergency -regulator

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Households won't be first to be hit when it comes to the potential rationing of gas in Germany should Russian supplies be disrupted, the head of the country's energy regulator said, rejecting calls for a prioritisation of industry.

"In the event of a gas emergency, hospitals, nursing homes, police stations, barracks, private households ... would be the protected customers we would have to supply first," Bundesnetzagentur president Klaus Mueller said.

"This legal situation will not change," he told an industry conference organised by Handelsblatt, responding to calls by industry executives to consider reversing the order of gas supply cut-offs to avoid choking off the economy.

Under current regulation, industry would be cut off first if gas supplies fall significantly, a risk seen as more likely since Russia invaded Ukraine.

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Madeline Chambers)