Rarely has a federal government bill been so eagerly awaited by consumers as the December aid for gas and district heating customers.

Now the time has come: The draft from the Federal Ministry of Economics by Robert Habeck (Greens) is available and is now available to the other ministries in the cabinet.

All in all, private households and small businesses should be relieved by a “higher single-digit billion amount”, government circles said on Thursday.

That is significantly more than the gas commission set up by Habeck had calculated.

At the beginning of October, she had assumed a sum of 5 billion euros.

Julia Loehr

Business correspondent in Berlin.

  • Follow I follow

The Commission's concept referred to a one-off payment.

In fact, it is more of a one-off non-payment.

Specifically, the following is planned: The federal government transfers the gas and district heating suppliers the amount that they would otherwise debit from their customers' bank accounts for December.

In Berlin, however, it is pointed out that the time between the legislative process and implementation is very short, so it can also happen that the energy suppliers first debit the deductions from the customer account and then credit them back a few days later when they receive the money from the state to have.

However, the end consumers should not have to take action themselves, the relief should reach them automatically.

An important change compared to the Gas Commission's plans concerns the amount of the relief.

The Commission had advised that the discharge should correspond to the September payment on account.

Her concern was: Otherwise, some customers could ask their suppliers to quickly increase the monthly advance payment for December.

But in view of the fact that many suppliers have increased their prices for the winter, the ministry is now taking a different approach: the price per kilowatt hour that applies on December 1 should be decisive, multiplied by a twelfth of the annual consumption, i.e. the amount that that utilities would deduct as a deduction for December.

The plan for district heating customers looks a little different: the amount of the September bill should be the basis here, plus an adjustment factor that should reflect the price increases up to December.

The total cost of relief increases

Because the price in December is now decisive, the total costs of this relief measure would increase, according to Berlin.

The "emergency aid" is to be financed from the economic stabilization fund, which is filled with 200 billion euros, from which the gas price brake for industrial customers and from March the gas price brake for private customers - a price cap of 12 cents per kilowatt hour for 80 percent of the previous year's consumption - are to be financed.

According to the government, the emergency aid in December is intended to bridge the time until the price brake begins in early March.

The gas commission's considerations that the state should bear a third of the gas and district heating costs in December, January and February were rejected by the energy suppliers because of the high level of bureaucracy involved.

According to the energy association BDEW, around 47 percent of the 40.6 million apartments in Germany are heated with gas and around 14 percent with district heating.

24.7 million households are to be relieved of the December down payment.

In addition to them, commercial customers who consume no more than 1.5 million kilowatt hours of gas a year should also receive the help.

If consumption is higher in a residential complex with many residential units, the December deduction should also be taken over by the state in such cases.

Who is actually relieved and when depends largely on whether someone lives in their own four walls or rents.

Owners or tenants who have a direct contract with the supplier for their gas boiler will feel the relief immediately.

Anyone who lives in an apartment building with central heating will not be relieved until 2023, when the property management accounts for the operating costs for 2022.

According to the plans of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, tenants should be informed about the estimated amount of the relief this year.

The draft law is to be passed by the cabinet next Wednesday.