Many tenants are getting it in black and white these weeks: heating costs have risen significantly in the past year – especially for heat from oil and natural gas.
According to a calculation by the real estate service provider Ista, the heating costs of rental households in Germany rose significantly in 2023. Compared to 2022, the costs per kilowatt hour rose on average by 7 percent for district heating, by 34 percent for heating oil and by 44 percent for natural gas, as the company reported on Thursday in Essen. The figures are based on the evaluation of around 800,000 heating cost bills. The state price brakes for gas and district heating that existed in 2023 are taken into account.
Because heating was more economical at the beginning of the year and it was rather mild at the end of the year, heating consumption in 2023 was on average slightly lower than in 2022. For an average apartment with 70 square meters of living space, the annual heating costs for district heating rose on average by 2 percent to 792 euros Natural gas by 37 percent to 817 euros and heating oil by 30 percent to 1,095 euros. “Many tenants will have to pay more to heat their apartment than ever before,” said Ista boss Hagen Lessing. The company assumes that in many cases additional payments will be due for gas and oil heating.
In another analysis of the monthly heating data from 350,000 apartments, Ista determined consumption in the 20 largest German cities in the 2023/24 heating season, calculated from the beginning of September to the end of April. Result: Adjusted for weather conditions, only in Stuttgart did tenants heat less than in the same period last year, namely around one percent. This is followed by Dresden with an increase in consumption of one percent and Munich with two percent more heating energy consumed compared to the previous year. In the end, Bielefeld was where the additional consumption was twelve percent higher after adjusting for the weather. Overall, according to Ista, five percent more heating energy was used in Germany in the 2023/24 heating season, adjusted for weather conditions, than the year before.