How do you get the house or apartment warm in winter? Klaus Müller warns that anyone who uses a new gas heating system today will have to reckon with very high CO2 prices in the future.
The President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, has appealed to the trade to better advise consumers when replacing the heating system. “It’s always easy to install what you’ve been installing for 10 years,” Müller told the newspapers of the Funke media group. A new gas heating system can seem cheaper today, but will become very expensive in a few years due to the price of CO2. That is why reliable and future-oriented advice is now needed.
CO2 pricing was introduced in Germany in 2021. Since then, people have had to pay more for heating with gas or for filling up. At that time, 25 euros were incurred per tonne of carbon dioxide, and the price should rise every year – now it is 30 euros. The increase to 35 euros originally planned for this year has been postponed by one year.
The controversial heating law stipulates that from the beginning of 2024 every newly installed heating system should be operated with at least 65 percent green energy. In particular, the FDP insists on more “technology openness” – for example for heating with hydrogen. Müller was skeptical: “As a private person, I would be careful.” Many consumer advocates would advise against it because it is not yet known to what extent and at what price hydrogen will be available.
The question of whether a higher CO2 price should be used instead of a heating ban is a political decision for the head of the network agency. “From a behavioral economics point of view, however, we know that people are less able to deal with decisions whose financial consequences lie several years in the future.”
Source: Stern
