Status: 03/16/2023 10:44 a.m
At the turn of the year, many district heating suppliers once again raised their prices sharply. The state relieves the citizens and subsidizes these high prices. Some companies take advantage of this.
Many district heating customers have recently experienced massive price increases. Some suppliers have obviously violated legal requirements and the District Heating Ordinance. At the same time, they disregard the case law of the Federal Court of Justice. Despite this, energy suppliers are now demanding state subsidies as part of the price brakes.
Subsidy fraud in the energy price brakes?
plus minus 9:45 p.m., 15.3.2023
Energy law expert Werner Dorß describes this approach as dem ARD magazine plus minus to suspected subsidy fraud. The companies are threatened with repayment and fines, because the Federal Cartel Office has the authority to monitor the price brakes and to punish abuse. However, the Bonn authority lacks staff.
The price brake mechanism
The district heating price consists of various components. The decisive factor is the so-called working price. The heat consumption is billed with it. This is usually done with complicated formulas.
The government has capped this working price for district heating customers at 9.5 cents gross per kilowatt hour. What a supplier charges for 80 percent of consumption is covered by the state. There is obviously a great temptation to drive up the prices.
prices have risen drastically
The Stadtwerke Erkrath/Hochdahl near Düsseldorf, for example, have increased the payments on account since January by around 50 percent compared to the monthly costs of the previous statement, without taking into account the price brake. The energy prices required to generate the heat have meanwhile fallen back to the level before the start of the Ukraine war.
According to paragraph 11 of the gas and heat price brake law, the suppliers are obliged to inform the customer of the current working price. Stadtwerke Erkrath/Hochdahl refrain from doing this and only state a total advance payment. At the request of Plus minus the Stadtwerke reply: “The price calculation for 2023 will be carried out after all statistical values are available in the first quarter of 2024.”
When asked whether unjustified state subsidies might then be obtained, we were told: These payments would only be made subject to repayment. In other words: the public utilities apply for subsidies for the heat. If these should be too high, the state will demand them back again.
Violations of the District Heating Ordinance
In Wuppertal, the working price for district heating increased more than tenfold from January 2021 to January 2023, from around four to around 46 cents. As a reminder: the cap on the price brake is 9.5 cents per kilowatt hour. The municipal utilities there can therefore apply for a subsidy of around 37 cents for every kilowatt hour of energy supplied.
Thomas Brix, owner of an apartment building and landlord, calculates Plus minus suggests: For his house alone, the subsidies this year would be around 30,000 euros. As a taxpayer, he has to pay for it, he complains. He couldn’t understand in any way whether that was justified. In his documents, Brix sees that the public utilities only state gas as the energy source when calculating the price. Most of the district heating in Wuppertal comes from the local waste-to-energy plant – i.e. from waste heat that is produced when the waste is burned anyway. In a current energy certificate from the public utility company, 90.6 percent of the coverage is from waste, and only a good five percent from gas plus other sources. Can the public utilities then only bill for gas?
The energy law expert Dorß sharply criticizes this approach: “It contradicts the district heating ordinance, AVB Fernwärme V Paragraph 24, and it now contradicts ten years of supreme court rulings of the Federal Court of Justice, which has repeatedly and very precisely and unequivocally ruled on these issues, it shouldn’t be like that. ” In addition, a non-transparent and very expensive exchange price for gas is charged in Wuppertal, which also contradicts the District Heating Ordinance.
Suspicion of subsidy fraud
A very expensive heat price that the state subsidizes – calculated with violations of the law and a fuel that is not used in the main: the procedure of the Stadtwerke Wuppertal is a clear case for Dorß. “The whole thing gives clear suspicions of commercial fraud. And against the background of state subsidies from tax funds, this points to the suspicion of subsidy fraud. We can only advise the affected customers on site to only accept payments with immediate payment and to object to incoming invoices in writing.”
In response to the specific question about the suspicion of subsidy fraud from lawyers Plus minus no answer from Stadtwerke Wuppertal. It says in writing: “The allegation of violating the AVB district heating regulation […] we resolutely and unequivocally reject it.” Regarding the accusation that despite the waste-to-energy plant only expensive gas is billed, it is said that the price formula is currently being revised and that they want to change it in 2024.
Consumer advocates become active
Last autumn, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) analyzed that a third of the suppliers examined violated the District Heating Ordinance and, for example, did not publish price calculations.
Thomas Engelke from vzbv does not want to place everyone under general suspicion, but sees the risk of subsidy abuse with so little transparency. Especially since now at the turn of the year many consumers have complained about drastic price jumps. The Federal Association of Consumers will take a close look and examine the legal consequences. Engelke calls for “significantly more transparency in the district heating sector and, finally, nationwide price supervision, which could be installed at the Federal Network Agency, for example.”
Bundeskartellamt lacks staff
Since the turn of the year, the Federal Cartel Office has been given the power to monitor price brakes in order to protect taxpayers from abuse of subsidies by energy suppliers. President Andreas Mundt has set up his own special unit for this. In order to track down black sheep, all companies that take advantage of subsidies as part of the price brakes must provide information.
But the Bundestag still has to approve the personnel required for monitoring, according to Mundt. In the end, there should be almost 19 jobs, but they could come in 2024 at the earliest, because only then will the new budget be passed. It will therefore still be a while before the Bonn authority can vigorously investigate suspected cases of subsidy abuse.