In September, consumer prices for oil, gas and electricity rose sharply compared to the previous year. For light heating oil, consumers had to pay around 76.5 percent more than a year ago, as the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced on Wednesday. Natural gas was 5.7 percent more expensive and electricity 2.0 percent more expensive.
The big differences are due to the different access to the energy market, explained the Federal Office: “While heating oil is bought at current prices, long-term contracts with energy suppliers often apply to natural gas and electricity. Price adjustments there usually only take place annually and with some advance notice. “
Half of all new buildings are already heated with renewable energies
Many apartments in Germany are still heated with oil and gas – in contrast, according to statistics, renewable energy sources are becoming more and more popular in new buildings. Around a quarter of all apartments in Germany are still heated with oil. In 2020, only 0.7 percent of the new buildings were equipped with oil heating.
Gas heating systems are also installed less often: in 2000, 74 of the new buildings were equipped with them, in 2010 it was 53 percent, in 2020 it was 39 percent. On the other hand, almost half of all new buildings from 2020 – 46 percent – are heated with a heat pump; In 2020, renewable energies were used for heating for the first time in more than half (50.5 percent) of all newly built apartments.
The expenditure of an average household on residential energy, including electricity, gas and heating oil, was 150 euros per month in 2019, according to the Federal Statistical Office. That was 5.8 percent of private consumer spending. The largest share of the expenditure on residential energy is therefore made up of the expenditure on electricity. In 2019, they averaged 46 percent or around 70 euros a month.