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Thermostat on a heater in Leipzig
Photo: Hendrik Schmidt/dpa
Thanks to mild temperatures and lower energy costs, the heating bill for last winter was significantly lower for customers than for the previous year's heating season. The comparison portal Verivox comes to this conclusion in an evaluation from which the German Press Agency quotes. Accordingly, gas customers had to spend 38 percent less and heating oil customers 18 percent less.
Verivox evaluated temperature data from the German Weather Service as well as gas and oil prices, not actual heating behavior. If someone has turned the heating up higher than in the previous year due to falling prices, this will also be reflected in the bill.
According to the German Weather Service, last winter was the 13th mildest in a row and the third warmest since 1881. Compared to the same period last year, which was also significantly too mild, the heating requirement for a model household in a single-family home fell by eight percent, according to Verivox.
The portal assumes a model household of a family of three to four people in a detached single-family home with an annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours. Such a family pays an average of 1,506 euros for the past heating season from September to March - 38 percent less than in the same period last year.
However, this is also due to the record prices of the previous heating season. According to Verivox, gas customers have never had to pay as much for a warm home as they did in winter 2022/2023. Compared to the average costs of the last ten years, the burden on households in the 2023/2024 heating season is still almost a quarter (24 percent) higher.
Tariffs for new customers are falling
"After gas costs exploded during the energy crisis, consumers can look forward to the billing for this winter with a little more calm," said Thorsten Storck, energy expert at Verivox. The situation on the procurement markets has eased significantly, and tariffs for new customers in particular are continuing to fall.
According to Verivox, market prices for gas are now at 28 euros per megawatt hour, down from around 50 euros a year ago. A hectoliter of light heating oil cost an average of 108 euros gross in the last heating period, after an average of around 122 euros in the previous season.
According to the information, a model family paid an average of 1,516 euros for heating oil in the current heating period, 18 percent less than in the same period last year. However, from a longer-term perspective, last winter was not particularly favorable here either. If you look at the average costs over the past ten years, the burden was a third higher.