Heating costs could increase by more than 50 per cent in Berlin

This year, the housing industry expects heating costs to rise by more than 50 per cent. Maren Kern, board member of the Association of Berlin-Brandenburg Housing Companies, assumes that heating costs will continue to rise significantly. According to Kern, the federal government’s taxable, one-off heating grant of 300 euros is nowhere near enough to help households cover the imminent increases. The government’s hardship fund is a first step in the right direction, she said, but she also appealed to tenants to follow their housing company’s recommendations and make voluntary advance payments for heating costs, or to start putting money aside themselves. Meanwhile, Georg Friedrichs, the head of Gasag, Berlin’s largest utility company, has appealed to households in Berlin to reduce room temperatures whenever possible in the autumn. According to Friedrichs, just one degree Celsius less will reduce a household’s energy consumption by seven per cent.