Status: 05.04.2022 18:03
The freeze on subsidies for energy-efficient new buildings caused quite a stir at the beginning of the year. Economics Minister Habeck has now announced that the KfW program for the Efficiency House 40 will be launched again. However, the funds for this are limited.
From April 20th, house builders can submit new applications for state subsidies for energy-saving new buildings. This was announced by the Federal Ministry of Economics. Specifically, it is about the Efficiency House 40 (EH40) and funding from the state bank KfW.
Installation of gas heaters no longer supported
The funding is therefore limited until December 31, 2022. A budget of one billion euros is available for new building subsidies. Economics Minister Robert Habeck said that one had to be prepared for the fact that the budget would be exhausted very quickly.
In order to enable as many applicants as possible to receive funding, “we have reduced the funding rates,” the minister explained. “We are also changing the funding conditions: Among other things, we are ending an anachronism and will no longer subsidize the installation of gas heating systems.” This is “politically always indicated”.
The program is designed in three stages
If the budget for this year is exhausted, the EH40 program is to be continued until the end of the year with “more demanding conditions”. The program should only allow new construction funding in combination with the quality seal for sustainable building (QNG).
This stage two program is said to be in effect until December 31, 2022. As a third step, a new comprehensive program entitled “Climate-friendly construction” is planned from January 2023. This program is intended to further develop the QNG seal and “focus even more on greenhouse gas emissions in the life cycle of the building”. The exact adjustment of the program is still being worked out.
Funds were exhausted in January
At the beginning of the year, the suspension of funding had caused quite a stir. On January 24, the Ministry of Economics announced that the energy efficiency promotion of the state KfW would be stopped with immediate effect. In addition to the new building subsidy according to the EH55 efficiency standard, this also affected the subsidy programs for the higher EH40 standard and energy-efficient renovation of buildings, which led to clear criticism from the construction industry and consumer protection groups.
According to Habeck, the reason for the funding stop was that the funds for the continuation of the programs had already been exhausted. At the same time, as early as January, he held out the prospect of a rapid reorganization of funding. After the funding stop, KfW began processing all eligible old applications that were received before January 24 in a first step at the beginning of February.
There is now no further funding for new buildings with the EH55 standard. At the time, it was announced that the program would continue for renovations and EH40 houses.
“One billion euros is not enough”
Axel Gedaschko, President of the Central Association of the Housing Industry (GdW), welcomed the new construction subsidy in principle, but considers the sum of one billion euros to be too low. “Because a good half of the residential units that were originally to be implemented in privately financed residential construction this year in the EH55 standard are now being rescheduled to EH40,” he said.
Ulrich Lange, the deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and responsible for housing and construction, was disappointed by the funding amount and the halving of the funding rates. “These are huge cuts for people who reckoned with the original funding conditions and planned their buildings on this basis.”