Heating costs are exploding. Households that heat with gas in particular will have to be prepared for hefty additional payments in the coming year. The culprits are heavy price adjustments by operators, the gas surcharge and poorly insulated houses. FOCUS Online says who has to reckon with a price shock.
The expensive autumn threatens German households.
The Research Institute for Thermal Insulation (FIW) in Munich was commissioned by the Federal Association for Energy-Efficient Building Envelopes (BuVEG) to determine the extent to which the insulation of a house or apartment affects the price of gas.
It turned out that families in particular are at risk of a price shock if they live in uninsulated and unrenovated houses. For a single-family house with a floor space of 160 square meters, the experts calculate gas costs of up to 12,000 euros. The year of manufacture is also important. According to the writers, houses built between 1950 and 1970 are significantly less well insulated than new buildings today.
This affects the total consumption. The FIW calculated an annual consumption of 48,000 kilowatt hours for uninsulated houses (160 square meters). Houses that were built between 1980 and 1995 and are reasonably insulated have an annual consumption of 28,800 kilowatt hours for heating and hot water.
“Large parts of the population are therefore facing a collapse in energy costs due to their high gas consumption,” says Jan Peter Hinrichs, Managing Director of BuVEG, summarizing the study results.
If the gas price even rises to 30 cents per kilowatt hour, these households would have to reckon with additional costs of up to 14,400 euros.
“For a typical non-refurbished detached house built before the turn of the millennium with a good 160 square meters of living space, the average total costs for space heating and hot water with an energy price of 10 cents per kilowatt hour in recent years have been 2440 euros for an insulated detached house and around 2440 euros for an uninsulated detached house 4,800 euros,” according to the study authors.
Because the gas price from October – due to the gas levy – will be around 25 cents per kilowatt hour, the costs will ideally rise to 7200 euros (somewhat insulated) and 12,000 euros (uninsulated). If the detached house is very well insulated, the gas price is 1,680 euros.
With a gas price of 30 cents per kilowatt hour, the costs for uninsulated houses rise to 14,400 euros. If the house is reasonably insulated, the costs are around 8,640 euros.
!function(){var t=window.addEventListener?”addEventListener”:”attachEvent”;(0,window[t])(“attachEvent”==t?”onmessage”:”message”,function(t){if(“string”==typeof t.data
It’s not just single-family homes that are affected. Uninsulated apartments also drive up gas prices. In the worst case (uninsulated) there is a risk of consumption of 18,750 kilowatt hours per year. This corresponds to a charge of 5625 euros. According to the study, the same apartment could reduce consumption to 11,250 kilowatt hours with “some insulation”. This corresponds to a charge of 3375 euros.
!function(){var t=window.addEventListener?”addEventListener”:”attachEvent”;(0,window[t])(“attachEvent”==t?”onmessage”:”message”,function(t){if(“string”==typeof t.data
The North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center confirms that uninsulated houses generally lead to higher energy consumption. Experts recommend insulating heating pipes, especially in older houses.
“The subsequent insulation of heating pipes that are poorly insulated or not at all saves a few percent and can be done with a little manual skill yourself,” explains energy expert Reinhard Loch. There is material for this in hardware stores, an explanatory video on the online site of the consumer center.
“Replacing the thermostat heads with suitable electronic, programmable thermostats will pay for itself in just a few years,” recommends Loch. The same applies to the installation of economical shower heads made of suitable material, the setting of the instantaneous water heater to around 38 degrees and the fundamental reduction in hot water consumption.
Gas costs too high: Compare tariffs now and save