Mild winter pushes heating requirement in Germany to lowest level in 12 years
Clean Energy Wire
People in Germany needed to use much less energy to heat their homes between September 2023 and February 2024 due to an exceptionally warm autumn and winter, and also benefited from a signifcant energy price drop, according to an analysis by price comparison website Check24. Consumers could heat their homes with 7 percent less energy compared to the same period in 2022/2023. This marks the lowest heating requirement across the country in the last 12 years. Gas heating costs fell by 27 percent compared to 2022/2023. Gas was also cheaper than during the same period two years ago, when the energy crisis started. Prices for oil heating dipped by around 21 percent, according to Check24.
A further analysis by Verivox, another price comparison website for energy, found that gas costs had dropped 38 percent while oil bills were 18 percent cheaper due to lower commodity prices and warmer temperatures in the period September 2023 to February 2024.
Both companies based their calculations on the latest weather and climate data from the country's meteorological service, DWD. Germany saw record high average temperatures for September 2023 and February 2024. The winter period was the third warmest since records began in 1881. In January, DWD reported that 2023 marked Germany's hottest recorded year, with an average temperature of 10.6 degrees Celsius, 1.3°C above the typical average.
