German gas importers will not receive advance payments from a gas levy to be imposed on consumers until Oct. 31 and must cover any resulting costs themselves, according to a draft regulation from the German economy ministry seen by Reuters.

An economy ministry spokesperson would not comment on the draft regulation and said that the gas levy would be introduced as planned from Oct. 1.

The levy is set to be imposed from October 2022 to April 2024 and aims to share 90% of importers' additional costs of replacing a shortage of gas from Russia among both households and industrial consumers. (Reporting by Markus Wacket, Writing by Miranda Murray)