During the 2022 gas crisis, there was a run on state funding programs, for example for heat pumps. Interest fell significantly in 2023, according to figures from the Federal Office of Economics and Export Controls.
In the year that ended, German citizens submitted significantly fewer applications for funding for energy saving programs. This emerges from an evaluation by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA).
The need for advice on energy saving appears to have been significantly lower in 2023 than in the previous year. According to Bafa, only 120,000 applications were received for energy advice, compared to 134,000 the year before. Accordingly, the funds approved for this fell from 179 million to around 150 million euros. Bafa usually subsidizes energy consultations with 50 percent of the costs.
Funding for individual measures is drastically less in demand
Applications for federal funding for efficient buildings (BEG) fell even more significantly. This includes individual measures such as new windows, roof insulation, but also heat pumps or other alternative heating sources. Here the number of applications fell from more than 740,000 in 2022 to around 280,000 this year.
According to the new version of the Building Energy Act (GEG), the installation of a heat pump is subsidized with up to 70 percent of the costs. Due to the uncertainty of many house and apartment owners due to the slow pace of legislation at the GEG, the replacement of the heating system may have been postponed in many cases.
Heating replacement stalls
Up to and including October, only 76,471 heat pumps had been applied for; in the same period last year the number was 315,835 units. In the summer of 2022, under the influence of the gas crisis and changed funding guidelines, there was a run on funding, which only flows after the respective projects have been completed.
Bafa approved a total of 9.8 billion euros for energy saving measures in 2023, just as much as the previous year with ten billion euros. However, this was due to the delay in funding after the application was submitted.
BEG funding for individual measures continues
In the meantime, funding for energy consultations has been suspended due to the budget crisis, but BEG funding for individual measures continues.
The program for energy and resource efficiency in the economy (EEW), aimed at industry and commerce, is also suspended. Here too, there was slightly less interest with around 13,000 new applications than in the previous year with around 16,000. However, the sums for approved projects rose to more than one billion euros after 475 million in 2022.