In the past year, only one area of ​​the economy exceeded the emission limits set for it in the Climate Protection Act: residential and commercial real estate. Now two new resolutions are supposed to help Germans emit less CO2. On the one hand, the Federal Council approved a new heating cost ordinance on Friday, with which EU requirements are implemented. In future, newly installed heating cost meters in apartment buildings must be remotely readable. Existing meters must be converted by the end of 2026. In addition, the utilities should send owners and tenants a comparison of their previous consumption and the average consumption of all users - on a monthly basis. The hope behind this: Consumers should no longer turn up their heating so far and thus relieve the climate and their bank accounts.

The German Tenants' Association welcomes the change in principle, but fears additional burdens.

It is to be feared that “tenants will have to pay more for these devices and the billing and consumption information than they save on energy costs,” he warned.

The Federal Council has tied its approval to the fact that the federal government must review the new regulation after three years to see whether it has led to additional costs for the tenants.

The reading company Ista, one of the big ones in the industry, announced that the meters in almost 3 of the 5 million apartments it manages are already being read from a distance.

Housing associations criticize the change

In the meantime, the Federal Ministry of Economics has initiated a change in the Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings (BEG) program that has consequences for building owners. There will soon be no more subsidies for new buildings in accordance with the Efficiency House 55 standard, and corresponding applications can only be submitted until January 31, 2022. A spokeswoman justified this with the fact that the funds should be used specifically where the savings potential is greatest: in the renovation of existing buildings. This includes, for example, the insulation and installation of modern heating systems. According to the German Energy Agency, six out of ten residential buildings in Germany were built before the first thermal insulation ordinance in 1979. According to experts, these houses consume up to five times more energy than houses built after 2001.According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, however, more than half of the BEG funds promised recently went to new buildings - mostly in accordance with the Efficiency House 55 standard.

Housing associations criticize the change.

"Without this funding, living with a higher climate standard will be unaffordable for many people in Germany," said Axel Gedaschko, President of the GdW.

The association estimates that the production costs for multi-family houses in large cities are likely to rise by 264 euros per square meter of living space due to the discontinuation of the subsidy.

A 75-square-meter apartment would therefore be more expensive by almost 20,000 euros.

"That's an increase of more than 9 percent," said a spokesman.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs points out, however, that new buildings according to the efficiency standard 40 should continue to be funded.

These only use 40 percent of the energy of a conventional building.