Prices for heating with oil and gas are increasing

Burgstädt / Saxony, January 3rd, 2021:

Heating with oil and gas will be significantly more expensive in Germany from January 2021. The reason for the average 7% higher costs (according to a current analysis by the consumer portal Verivox) is the CO2 tax included in the climate package of the Federal Republic of Germany. Because the combustion of fossil fuels such as heating oil, liquid gas, natural gas, coal, petrol and diesel produces large amounts of greenhouse gases, an enormous savings potential is seen here. The new levy is one of the federal government’s instruments to achieve the goal of “climate neutrality” by 2050. The climate package provides an incentive to cut CO2 emissions significantly by introducing a fixed price system with gradual increases. Energy and industrial companies will have to pay a fee of EUR 25 per tonne of CO2 generated from 2021. This will increase by EUR 5 a year until 2025. From 2026 the levy will vary between 55 and 65 EUR / ton. Companies want to pass this additional expense on to consumers. As a result, heating and refueling in particular will gradually become more expensive in the coming years. Using the example of a single-family house with gas heating, the additional burden for consumers becomes clear. Assuming gas consumption of 30,000 kWh per year, an additional 165 EUR (gross including VAT) must be included in 2021. The additional costs will rise to EUR 357 by 2025.

In contrast, what about the electricity prices? According to Verivox, these fell by an average of about 3 percent in 2019 and are expected to stagnate at the current level in 2020. Due to the rapidly increasing share of renewable energy in the electricity mix in Germany, the CO2 tax has a significantly lower impact. This is particularly good news for users of electric heating. It affects the price increase for heat generation through the CO2 tax significantly less or not at all. Households that heat with solar power, wind power, biogas or heat pumps are not affected by the tax.

The move away from the burning of fossil fuels towards the green electrification of all areas of life shows the potential of electrical heating systems. In the years and decades to come, electrical heat generation will gain significantly in importance and become an important, if not the most important, type of heating.