Anyone who thought last year that the energy price crisis had been overcome was wrong: despite the gas price brake, households in Germany paid around 31 per cent more for heating in 2023 than in 2022. Apparently, there is no longer as much potential for saving energy as in the previous year.
While in the first year after the Russian attack on Ukraine, households were still heating a good five per cent less than in 2021 after adjusting for temperature, last year it was only just under four per cent on average compared to the previous year despite similar price increases. These are the key findings of this year's heating monitor, which was compiled by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) on the basis of heating bills from the energy and property service provider ista.
Despite the gas price cap in 2023, high heating costs are a major burden for many private households. However, the opportunities for savings are limited. Tenant households in particular have little influence on energy-efficient refurbishments or heating systems.
This revealed major regional differences: Households in the east in particular had a significantly lower heating requirement. This is probably due to the higher renovation rate in the eastern German states. The highest heating requirements were in Saarland and the lowest in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
However, the places where prices have risen the most are not necessarily the ones where the most savings have been made on heating. The highest price increases were in Rhineland-Palatinate (over 45 per cent) and the lowest in Hamburg (8.8 per cent). Saxony (-5.8 per cent) saved the most on heating energy, Berlin (-2.6 per cent) the least. However, prices in both states only rose at a below-average rate of just under 20 and 24 per cent respectively.
CO2 emissions also fell in line with heating requirements - by a good four per cent after almost six per cent in the previous year. This is still not enough to achieve the climate targets in the building sector by 2030. Long-term investments such as energy-efficient building refurbishments and switching heating systems to renewable energies are still necessary.
Photo: © Gerd Altmann, Freiburg, Pixabay
