The heating law was debated for a long time, but it has now been decided. Anyone who wants to switch to more climate-friendly heating will receive money from the state. The next round of funding is now starting.
As of today, other groups can apply for state funding to replace old gas and oil heating systems with more climate-friendly alternatives. The process is now also available to owner-occupiers in multi-family houses and to homeowners’ associations with central heating, for example, as announced by the responsible development bank KfW and the Federal Ministry of Economics.
Owners of existing single-family homes who live in them themselves have been able to apply for support to make the change since February 27. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, around 27,000 applications have been received so far. Private landlords can apply from August, as can owners of homeowners’ associations who want to replace the heating in their own homes. This also applies to applications for non-residential buildings.
What the amount of funding depends on
A maximum of 70 percent of funding is possible – depending on the conditions. 30 percent is provided for each building, whether residential or commercial. According to the ministry, there is also an additional efficiency bonus of 5 percent for heat pumps that use water, soil or wastewater as a heat source or use a natural coolant.
By 2028, a speed bonus of 20 percent will be added for the early replacement of old gas and oil heating systems, as well as night storage heaters and old biomass heating systems for owner-occupiers. After that, the speed bonus will shrink by 3 percentage points every two years, initially to 17 percent from January 2029. For owners with up to 40,000 euros of taxable annual household income who live in their property themselves, an income bonus of 30 percent will be added. A surcharge of 2,500 euros will be granted for biomass heating systems if they comply with a certain dust emission limit.
Homeowners who have received approval from KfW to replace their heating system can apply for a low-interest KfW subsidy loan from a credit institution – usually from their own bank. Anyone who gets started before August 31st can also submit a subsidy application afterwards, up to November 30th.
Haus und Grund criticizes the process. “The already complex funding is made even more confusing by the staggered application process.” The owners’ association also pointed out that money will not be paid out until September. According to the ministry, if the application is successful and complete, the application will be approved within just a few minutes via the KfW portal. The money is then reserved. The Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv), on the other hand, praised the process, saying it had become faster and more consumer-friendly.
Ministry: The money should be enough for this year
The Central Association of Sanitation, Heating and Air Conditioning advises interested parties to take action. Delivery difficulties for manufacturers and tradesmen are a thing of the past, assures General Manager Helmut Bramann. Anyone who waits until plans for municipal heating planning are in place risks new requirements. “Therefore: act now, also against the background of increasingly limited scope for maneuver in future federal budgets. Who knows how long the current excellent funding environment will last.”
The funding must be secured beyond 2024, demands energy and construction expert Thomas Engelke from vzbv. “Since the budgetary funds for this have to be allocated to the federal budget every year, the Federal Minister of Finance must ensure exactly that.” He warned that consumers would be unsettled if funding were to be stopped again or funding reduced. This is because subsidies are only available as long as the funding has not been exhausted.
“We assume that the funds are sufficient,” said a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics. According to the ministry, around 16 billion euros are earmarked for the current year for federal funding for efficient buildings (BEG), which also includes other renovation measures such as insulating roofs or replacing windows.
Source: Stern
