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Heating costs in Germany increased by up to 81 percent during the winter of 2022, an聽聽conducted by non-profit consultancy co2online has found. At a time when the country, together with the rest of Europe, experienced the worst energy crisis in decades fuelled by Russia鈥檚 war on Ukraine, the cost of heating homes went up overall, but particularly for users of natural gas heating systems, still the most common in the country. Households heating with fossil fuels had to pay 1,475 euros on average in that year, 80 percent more than in 2021. Costs for users of wood pellet heating systems went up by 81 percent. The increase for households using heat pumps (50%) and heating oil (48%) was not as steep but still significant. District heating costs increased modestly, by 5 percent. 鈥淭he reason for this is the increase in prices for all forms of energy during the energy crisis,鈥� the consultancy said. 鈥淢uch warmer weather during winter and the direct support programmes in December (2022) helped cushion the price increase somewhat,鈥� it added.

The consultancy said it expected slightly lower prices for the whole of 2023, as energy prices are generally in decline again. Gas heating could end up being 11 percent and wood pellet heating about 17 percent cheaper than in 2022. Costs for heat pumps will drop even more (-20%) thanks to a large variety of electricity price tariffs for the climate-friendly heating technology. Co2online added that about 90 percent of all households in the country could save a considerable amount of heating costs by adapting their behaviour and modernising heating systems and insulation, gauging the potential savings at about 1,270 euros per household per year, or 22 billion euros for the whole country.

The increase in heating costs and climate-friendly transformation investments have become a heatedly debated topic in the country, where two in five homeowners say they can鈥檛 afford climate-friendly renovations. However, most people in Germany agree with the 鈥渃ore aim鈥� of the government鈥檚 controversial building energy law to replace old fossil heating systems with sustainable alternatives, a recent survey 蹿辞耻苍诲.听