High energy prices
Heating cost shock: what additional payments you have to reckon with now
Tenants can face hundreds of euros in arrears for heating costs
© Evgen_Prozhyrko / Getty Images
Gas and oil prices have exploded. However, many households will only see exactly what this means for the heating bill when the next service charge statement is presented. What to expect.
Everyone has probably noticed that the prices for heating oil and gas are currently rising like crazy. Anyone who has received a price increase from their supplier or even had to conclude an expensive new customer contract can sing a song about it. However, many consumers will only find out in the coming weeks and months what the explosion in heating costs means for their own wallets. Namely, when the next utility bill from your landlord or administrator flutters into the house – and a hefty back payment is due.
These households are threatened with a delayed price shock. After all, landlords and administrators often take a lot of time to settle the operating costs, in which heating makes up the largest block. In theory, the statement for the 2021 calendar year only has to be prepared by the end of 2022. The prices, which have increased again this year, will not appear on the bill until 2023.
Tenant and landlord representatives alike warn of a cost hammer. Germany’s largest housing group Vonovia expects that some households will have to pay back payments of one to two months’ rent. For a 65 square meter apartment with a rent of 450 euros, “that could quickly be an extra 500 or 1,000 euros,” a Vonovia spokesman told WDR.
Verivox expects hundreds of euros in additional costs
The comparison portal Verivox has tried to quantify the additional costs of the current heating period a little more precisely. The biggest cost explosion hits households that heat with oil. For a typical household with oil heating, the costs in the heating period from September to April rose by 781 euros to 1822 euros. This is an increase of 75 percent compared to the previous heating season. And that includes the reduced need for heating due to the comparatively mild winter.
According to Verivox, the increase in costs for gas customers is somewhat less pronounced. A family with gas heating paid an average of 1,613 euros in the past heating period – that was 213 euros or 15 percent more than in the previous winter. However, this – pleasingly moderate – figure only refers to existing customers who have basic services and who have kept their prices comparatively stable. Anyone who was with another – previously cheap provider – may have received a significantly higher price increase. And former customers of the gas.de scandal group, who had to look for a new provider because deliveries had stopped, were hit really hard. According to Verivox, new customers have to expect price increases of around 95 percent.
Also to be noted: The Verivox calculation refers to the heating period from September 2021 to April 2022. A large part of the increased costs should therefore not be included in the additional payment for 2021 – for example if a supplier has increased the prices at the turn of the year. So it can well happen to tenants that they only have to make a small additional payment for 2021, so that the monthly advance payments for 2022 are not significantly increased either. The subsequent payment in the coming year should then hit these consumers all the harder.
Post-payment calculator from Stiftung Warentest
Finding out how high the wave of heating costs is already piling up in the background and just waiting to hit you in 2023 is difficult for the individual tenant. The back payment calculator can be of help Stiftung Warentest online provides. However, it only delivers usable results if you can feed it yourself the most important data. In order to calculate the individual additional payment, you not only need the last heating bill, but also have to ask the landlord or administrator what oil or gas price he is currently paying. And even then, the result is only valid until the next heating oil delivery or gas price increase.
Aside from heating sparingly, consumers can’t do much against the cost wave other than arm themselves financially. “In general, tenants should, if they are economically able to do so, put money aside so that they can cover the likely increased additional payments,” says Jutta Hartmann from the German Tenants’ Association. “In addition, tenants and landlords should seek dialogue and take care of amicable solutions at an early stage, such as agreeing on installment payments.”
In order to soften the big shock next year, many landlords are already increasing the down payments. This increase should always be related to the last bill, emphasizes the Berlin Tenants’ Association. If an additional payment was due there, an increase of up to 30 percent could be justifiable. A “reasonable increase in advance payments” could be “advantageous for tenants in that the subsequent demand for the next billing is not quite as high”.