In view of the Ukraine war, a particularly large number of homeowners submitted applications for the installation of a heat pump last year. Now the numbers are going down. The Federal Ministry of Economics is nevertheless confident.
This year, the demand for subsidies for a heat pump has fallen significantly. At the request of the dpa news agency, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology informed the federal government that almost 41,300 applications for funding had been received in the first five months of the year. In the same period in 2022 there were almost 75,000 applications.
According to a report by “Spiegel”, the number of applications in June was just under 7,500, back to the same level as before the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
The federal government has been funding the renovation of buildings and the installation of environmentally friendly heating systems since 2021. According to the ministry, a total of almost 350,000 applications for a heat pump were received last year for federal funding for efficient buildings.
Subsidy reform expected
“Once the mountain of orders has been implemented, the applications will also increase again,” the ministry told the dpa. Consumers are therefore still waiting for a subsidy reform for heating replacement and for further falling prices due to the ramping up production of heat pumps.
According to the “Spiegel” report, the decline in applications could also be due to the fact that gas prices have stabilized again. In addition, the back and forth of the traffic light coalition around the heating law unsettled many homeowners.