The passing of the heating law is entering the decisive phase. But there is just as much criticism of the traffic light rush procedure as of the content of the law. Consumer uncertainty is great. This shows not only a new survey, but also the collapsing sales of heat pumps.
The legislative process for the heat transition is on the home stretch, but hardly anyone understands what is in store for them. In a Forsa survey commissioned by RTL and ntv, 65 percent of those surveyed said they did not understand what the Heating Act means for their own heating. In the east, the value is slightly higher at 72 percent.
Nor is the confusion a question of educational attainment. Among those surveyed with a secondary school diploma, 71 percent express a lack of understanding, while the figure for people with a high school diploma or even a degree is slightly better at 62 percent.
Complaints from heat pump manufacturers about a slump in sales and deeply unsettled consumers go well with this uncertainty. “The bluffing in politics surrounding the Building Energy Act was a disaster,” said Paul Waning, Chairman of the Federal Association of Heat Pumps, to the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. The demand for oil and gas heating is going up, while sales of heat pumps are collapsing.
The manufacturers have invested five billion euros in order to be able to deliver and install around 500,000 new heat pumps per year from 2024, as initially planned. This process is now being slowed down because the federal government’s compromise for the heating law does not offer a reliable framework for the industry. That was “extremely annoying,” Waning told the newspaper.
Expert hearing live on Wednesday
The much-criticised heating law was agreed in the last minute on Tuesday last week in rough outlines between the governing parties – with the personal commitment of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck and Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner. The draft law, which had already been passed in the cabinet in April, could be read in the Bundestag for the first time on Wednesday. However, this version lags far behind the latest negotiation status of the traffic light factions. The so-called guard rails that Scholz, Habeck and Lindner have taken mean a largely new law, while important details on the funding guidelines and conversion deadlines are still unclear.
Although there is no draft text for the law in its current version, the invited trade associations are expected to comment on this on Wednesday. Otherwise, the plan made by the traffic light to pass the law in the last plenary week before the holidays at the beginning of July cannot be kept. The expert hearing is an important step in any legislative process. The Committee for Climate Protection and Energy also wants to broadcast the two-hour survey of 14 experts live on Wednesday morning (from 11 a.m.) on the Bundestag’s website.
Mützenich: a second hearing is conceivable
The hearing of the experts on the basis of an outdated draft law caused some sharp criticism. CSU regional group chief Alexander Dobrindt spoke on Tuesday of a one-off process that was “not an orderly procedure for a corresponding law”. Dobrindt confirmed that the heating law should continue to be “put in the bin” regardless of the recently agreed changes.
SPD faction leader Rolf Mützenich rejected the allegations. Expert council is always useful and the rush of the legislative process is also due to the “sloppiness” of the Union in their years of government. However, he also does not rule out that there will be a second expert hearing that deals with the text of the final draft law. This could still be held in the last week of the session.
In fact, the invited experts also point out that the hearing based on an old draft law is problematic. “Due to the tight deadline, we reserve the right to submit further adjustment proposals and also to introduce them into the further process at short notice,” says the statement of the Association of Municipal Companies (VUK), to which numerous electricity, gas network and district heating operators belong.
Consumer advocates reprimand hydrogen opening
A deep dissent in the assessment of the heating law can be seen from the statements already published by participating associations. For example, the VUK is calling for longer transitional periods when expanding district heating and converting the gas network to hydrogen. In addition, it is unfair that the network operators should bear the costs if a promised changeover to hydrogen does not take place as promised and consumers have to buy another device after purchasing a hydrogen-capable gas heating system.
The Association of Consumer Centers (VZBV) finds this liability of suppliers sensible and demands that they protect themselves against such a risk and that they have to be closely monitored when implementing the transformation. Basically, the VZBV experts consider the extensive opening of the heating law for hydrogen to be misleading. “The VZBV cannot understand the position of the federal government, since there is a basic consensus in science that hydrogen will hardly be of any importance for the decarbonization of the building sector due to the insufficient availability of green hydrogen in 2030, possibly even in 2045.”
Furthermore, the VZBV considers it to be non-transparent if consumers are now allowed to install hydrogen-ready gas heaters in anticipation of the network being switched from gas to hydrogen one day. The “H2-ready” heaters available on the market could be operated with a maximum of 30 percent hydrogen and therefore do not meet the requirement of at least 65 percent renewable energies. “In the event of a switch to hydrogen, the owners would have to exchange at least the burner and house connection”, which entails further investment costs.