Energy prices: Consumers have to adjust to higher heating costs

Many people in Germany have to adjust to higher costs for heating with gas. This resulted in an evaluation of the Verivox comparison portal at the end of the heating season. According to this, the heating costs for gas customers rose by around 23 percent due to price. The evaluation is available to the German Press Agency.

Heating oil customers also pay a little more: Although the prices have dropped, according to Verivox, the heating should come around one percent more expensive. According to the Heizoel24 portal, heating oil customers, on the other hand, can expect consistently to somewhat lower costs. “The aftermath of the price shock from 2022 is finally digested,” said the managing director of the portal, Oliver Klapschus, the dpa.

Verivox: Households had to heat more

Households had to heat around eleven percent more on average from September to March than in the previous year, Verivox said, taking weather data from the German Weather Service. According to the weather service, the winter 2024/2025 was the fourteenth mild winter in a row, but with pronounced frost phases. According to the portal, the average gas costs for a single -family house were around 1,858 euros last winter, in the heating season before it was 1,515 euros.

“In addition to the colder temperatures, the return to the full VAT rate from 19 percent to natural gas in April 2024 also raised the gas costs for households,” said Verivox energy expert Thorsten Storck. The record prices of the energy crises 2022/2023 would no longer be due.

According to Verivox, the average heating oil costs for a single -family house were around 1,554 euros in the past heating season. This corresponds to a slight increase of around one percent. A drop in price in the case of heating oil almost equals the increased heat requirement. How much the individual household had paid specifically depend on the time of the heating oil order.

The prices for heating oil have been in a descent since the beginning of the year, according to Klapschus from the Heizoel24 portal. Those who heat with natural gas pay as much as heating oil customers. Wood pellets have recently become cheaper.

Energy consumption increased

According to an analysis of the energy service provider Techem, the average heating consumption of heating oil, natural gas and district heating rose nationwide by 23.6 percent compared to the previous year. The savings efforts of the past few years have decreased, said Techem boss Matthias Hartmann. “With high energy prices, many consumers will therefore be faced with an additional burden on the upcoming heating cost statement.”

Millions of gas and oil heaters

In Germany, oil and gas are heated in many millions of apartments. According to a study by the Federal Association of Energy and Water Management, gas and oil are used as an energy source in almost three quarters of heating.

The new building energy network (AG), which is often referred to by the traffic light coalition, is often referred to as a heating law, should ensure a gradual exchange of old heaters to climate-friendly alternatives such as heat pumps. The expected new federal government of Union and SPD wants to abolish the heating law again. The new opposite should become “open technology, more flexible and easier”, according to the coalition agreement. State heating funding is to be continued.

Tenant association: landlords have an important role

Landlords have one year to settle the additional costs, including the heating costs. Most tenants received the billing in the last quarter, according to the German Tenants’ Association. A spokeswoman pointed out that the increase in the CO2 price in early 2025 leads to higher heating costs for households that use fossil fuels. Landlords played an important role in the amount of heating costs, said a spokeswoman for the tenant association. It called the renovation stand of the building, such as thermal insulation, the choice of the heating system and thus the energy source and the efficiency of the heating system. Old heaters consumed more energy.