District heating prices under criticism: consumer protection demands transparency

District heating prices under criticism: consumer protection demands transparency

The Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv) has called for more transparency in the design of district heating prices. According to vzbv, pricing in the district heating market is opaque for consumers and needs to be improved. The federal government is called upon to ensure that consumers can understand price changes and to undertake a consumer-friendly amendment to the district heating regulation.

Since the beginning of 2023, vzbv has been continuously recording district heating prices in 31 networks. An evaluation of the data in the first quarter of 2024 once again showed the strong price differences depending on the network. While the effective prices per kilowatt hour rose in a typical apartment building in Leipzig, they fell in the network examined in Stuttgart. Consumers have difficulty assessing whether the heat costs on their network are appropriate.

In order to create more clarity, the vzbv is calling for the introduction of a Germany-wide heating network register and a heating network map based on it. In addition, the introduction of an independent price supervision is required. The Association of Municipal Companies emphasizes that pricing for district heating is not a legal vacuum and that transparency measures are already in the works. Discrediting district heating with false accusations should be avoided.