According to estimates by the Economics Ministry, citizens will have to spend more than nine billion euros a year up to 2028 to install more climate-friendly heating systems. This emerges from a published draft law on the new building energy law.
The Ministry calculates that this would mean savings of around 11 billion euros over an operating period of 18 years. The savings come about, among other things, because oil and natural gas are expected to become more expensive in the coming years.
If a heating system is replaced, this should be subsidized by the state. The amount of this aid was initially unclear. The existing funding for the switch to renewable heating will be adjusted in order to cushion the investments socially, it said. In addition, there will continue to be the possibility of tax incentives for energy-related renovation measures in owner-occupied property.
The state aid should not only be based on the condition of the heating, but also on the income of the people, stressed SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert in the RTL / ntv program “Frühstart”. “It’s true – the oldest boilers have to go first, but we also have households that have no support,” said Kühnert. These people should be supported.
Habeck announces financial support
The Parity Welfare Association also warned of financial overload. The association said, citing a study it commissioned, that many owners did not have enough money left over for the expensive renovations in their own house or apartment. “Anyone who owns a house or an apartment is not automatically wealthy. On the contrary: anyone who has saved their whole life for the small house does not accumulate any wealth on the side,” said CEO Ulrich Schneider.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck said on Sunday evening in ARD’s “Report from Berlin” that those who have little money should be “appropriately supported” so that they are not overwhelmed. As long as heat pumps are still more expensive, they should “be brought down to the price of gas heating”.
The planned building energy law means an end to installments for conventional oil and gas heating in Germany. From 2024, every newly installed heating system should be operated with 65 percent renewable energy. In addition to heat pumps, other technologies such as solar thermal energy or hybrid systems consisting of heat pumps and gas heating should also be used. With hybrid heating, the heat pump covers the basic supply, the gas heating jumps in on cold days.
Owners’ Association: Hybrid solutions very expensive
This openness to technology can hardly be implemented in practice, criticized the house owners’ association
According to the draft law, existing oil and gas heating systems can continue to be operated, and broken heating systems can be repaired. If this is not possible, transitional periods should facilitate the exchange. For example, if the heating system is broken, you should be allowed to install a gas heating system for a transitional period of three years. If a connection to district heating is foreseeable, the period can even be ten years.
Albert Stegemann, agricultural policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, suggested domestic biomass as an alternative to oil or gas heating. It is “an inexpensive, sustainable and safe source of energy,” said Stegemann. “In many rural areas, biomass is also the only sensible alternative to oil or gas heating”. The proposals of the traffic light coalition ignored the reality of life. The AfD parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel described the heating plans as an “attack on the prosperity of the middle class”.
