Forecast: Significant additional costs for tenants for oil and gas
Heating oil and gas have become cheaper again in the past year. Nevertheless, the real estate service provider Ista assumes that the current heating period will be significantly more expensive for many tenants than 2022/23, except for heating with district heating. However, a new "Heiz-O-Meter" is intended to ensure transparency.
According to a forecast by energy service provider Ista, many rental households can expect heating costs to rise significantly in the current heating period. The company cites increased consumption and significantly higher costs for oil and gas as the reasons for this. For district heating, however, Ista expects lower costs.
From September to November, the consumption of heating energy by private households rose by twelve percent compared to the same period last year, adjusted for weather conditions, the company reported. Heat consumption was therefore at least at the same level as before the energy crisis. "The more economical behavior of last winter has not been repeated so far this year," it said. People are heating more generously again, explained Ista boss Hagen Lessing according to the press release. "Consumers are apparently lulled by the supposed security of lower energy prices," Lessing continued.
Oil and gas significantly more expensive
In reality, however, the price level for oil and gas this winter is significantly higher overall than last year. Wholesale prices for heating oil and natural gas have fallen again since the respective peaks last year. Nevertheless, the cost of natural gas is expected to rise by around 61 percent and heating oil by around 34 percent in the current heating period.
"There is a real cost trap lurking here for many tenants," says Lessing. The increases are based on the average prices of 7.4 cents per kilowatt hour of natural gas and 9.3 cents per kilowatt hour of heating oil calculated by Ista for 2022 in bills for 2.7 million apartments. For district heating, on the other hand, the company expects a decrease of 24 percent - starting from 12.5 cents per kilowatt hour in 2022.
In this context, the Ista CEO referred to a new, publicly accessible monitoring tool for displaying current heat consumption, the"Heiz-O-Meter". It is fed with current monthly heating data from around 350,000 households in Germany.
The actual heating energy consumption of the previous month is determined from this data in the middle of each month throughout Germany, in the individual federal states and in the 20 largest cities. "This produces up-to-date, representative, weather-adjusted and comparable values," it said. The company advertised that this would enable rental households to better classify their current heating behavior based on the general consumption trend.
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- Despite the decrease in gas and heating oil prices over the past year, tenants may still face significantly higher heating costs during the current heating period, as predicted by energy service provider Ista.
- The landlord of an apartment in real estate may be affected by these rising heating costs, as they are responsible for providing heat and hot water to their tenants.
- As a result, some tenants may seek advice from an energy advisor to find ways to reduce their energy consumption and related costs, such as insulating their homes better or switching to more energy-efficient appliances.
- The energy supplier for the apartment buildings must factor in these increased costs for oil and gas in their pricing structures, which may lead to higher energy bills for tenants.
- To help tenants understand their energy consumption and potential savings, Ista has developed a new tool called the "Heiz-O-Meter," which provides current and comparative heating data for households across Germany.
- Tenants can use this tool to monitor their energy consumption and adjust their heating behavior accordingly, potentially helping to mitigate some of the additional costs associated with the higher oil and gas prices.
Source: www.ntv.de
