Heating is still extremely expensive in Germany. Depending on the energy source, costs have increased by up to 81 percent in 2022. This is shown by the current heating index, an analysis by the non-profit consulting firm Co2-Online. The bill is particularly high for anyone who heats with natural gas. An average household in a 70 square meter apartment in an apartment building has to pay 1,475 euros, 80 percent more than in 2021. Heating with wood pellets was 81 percent more expensive, with a heat pump 50 percent and with heating oil 48 percent. Households that heat with district heating had the lowest cost increase of five percent.
In order to determine costs across Germany, Co2-Online evaluated more than 250,000 energy bills and heating billings. These are based on information that consumers provide on Heizspiegel.de, to determine your savings potential. The status of the renovation, type of heating and information from the annual statement are requested in detail. This data is used anonymously for annual evaluation. The Heizspiegel is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection and is a partner of the German Tenants’ Association.
2022 was a year of crisis because of the Russian attack on Ukraine: Natural gas suddenly became scarce in Europe, so that higher prices were demanded for all energy sources. But heating also became much more expensive in 2021 due to delivery bottlenecks after the Covid pandemic, and the costs for natural gas even doubled compared to the previous year. They continued to rise in 2022. At least the mild winter and the emergency aid in December mitigated the costs somewhat, according to the evaluation.
With a view to the coming winter, it is now interesting to see whether heating will be cheaper again in 2023. Finally, the energy price brakes, which are intended to relieve consumers, will apply this year. In addition, energy is cheaper again on the stock exchanges, and suppliers are already passing some of this discount on to their customers. According to the evaluation, the costs for heating with natural gas will fall by eleven percent compared to 2022, with wood pellets by 17 percent and with heating oil by 19 percent.
Households with heat pumps particularly benefit; they probably pay 20 percent less. The reason for this is the larger range of electricity tariffs that apply specifically to the consumption of the heat pump, according to the analysis. Only heating with district heating is expected to be slightly more expensive (ten percent). Since heating bills arrive almost a year late, the forecast is based, among other things, on how many days in 2023 heating has already been required compared to the previous year and how current energy prices have developed.
Despite price caps and cheaper stock market prices, energy costs are still higher than before the crisis. Therefore, the Heating Mirror also makes it clear that 90 percent of all households could save energy with behavioral changes and renovations, an average household up to 1270 euros. The managing director of Co2-Online, Tanja Loitz, says: “Most people misjudge their consumption and the influence of even the smallest measures on costs – or do not understand their heating bill. When energy prices are high, this is devastating.” Melanie Weber-Moritz, Federal Director of the German Tenants’ Association, points out that the energy source is currently very important: Heating costs will remain high in the future, “especially for fossil fuels, so that with a view to the coming heating season, any savings in the household will be more significant worth it than ever.”
If you severely limit your consumption, you can actually save around 20 percent of energy, but the bigger lever is renovations. This also means that anyone who renovates and switches to climate-friendly energy sources pays less. In addition, the Co2 tax will make fossil fuels more expensive in the future. Calculations by the consumer advice center or the WWF environmental foundation show that an electricity-powered heat pump is financially worthwhile compared to gas heating.