The federal government is combining its call for energy saving with concrete help for low earners. As part of an “Electricity Saving Check”, mobile advice centers in your own home would also be able to help you find ways to save, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced. In addition to financial subsidies, for example to replace power-hungry refrigerators and freezers, this also includes free emergency aid such as LEDs, switchable power strips and water-saving shower heads. The new funding period for the program has now started. “The rising costs of electricity and gas are hitting the unemployed, those on low wages and older people with small pensions particularly hard,” said Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens). Even before the energy price crisis, they would have had to spend ten percent of their income on energy costs.
Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke also called for savings and referred to the energy advice provided by consumer advice centres. “Energy saving and greater energy efficiency are important building blocks for a successful energy transition,” said the Green politician to Reuters. “This is all the more true in these times, when we need to quickly end our dependence on fossil energy imports from Russia.” People themselves know best “which savings opportunities they can use, for example when driving a car, and which ones they can’t.”