The demand for heat pump subsidies has fallen significantly this year. In the first five months of 2023, the federal government received almost 41,300 funding applications for the installation of a heat pump in the stock, as the Ministry of Economic Affairs (BMWK) announced on Sunday on request. In the same period last year, there were almost 75,000 applications. The “Spiegel” had previously reported. According to the report, the number of applications in June this year was just under 7,500, back to pre-war levels in Ukraine.
Since 2021, the federal government has been funding the renovation of buildings and the installation of more environmentally friendly heating systems through federal funding for efficient buildings. According to the BMWK, almost 350,000 applications for existing heat pumps were received last year. “Once the mountain of orders has been implemented, the applications will also increase again,” the ministry said on Sunday. Consumers are therefore likely to be waiting for a subsidy reform for heating replacement and for prices for heat pumps to continue to fall due to the ramping up production.
The “Spiegel” attributes the decline in demand to the gas prices, which have fallen again, as well as to the ongoing debate about the Building Energy Act, with which the federal government wants to speed up the replacement of old and climate-damaging oil and gas heating systems.
