Average household heating costs down by up to 12 percent in Germany in 2024
Clean Energy Wire
German households had to pay significantly less for heating in 2024 than in the previous year, as the prices for gas and heating oil fell during this period and the weather was milder. An average household paid around 12 percent less for heating with gas and around 8 percent for heating with oil, an analysis by price comparison website Verivox has found. Lower costs were also a result of high temperatures during the winter months, which cut the average heating requirement by three percent compared to 2023, Verivox said. Gas prices decreased from an average 11.8 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) to 11.0 ct/kWh – still much higher than the average price before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when gas cost around 6 ct/kWh.
The affordability of energy is regarded as one of the key topics for many voters in Germany’s upcoming snap elections on 23 February. Gas prices in particular have been a constant source of debate in Germany since the energy crisis and Russia’s war on Ukraine, both for household customers and for industrial companies, who rely on the fossil gas for production processes. Germany aims to phase out fossil fuels in heating to help bring down emissions in the buildings sector.
