District heating is actually supposed to play an important role in the energy transition. But the prices are still opaque and incomprehensible.
Anyone who connects to a district heating network today knows very little or nothing about what they will pay. What makes the problem worse is that once you're connected, you can't easily leave again. As consumer advocates describe it, they are "captive customers.' The Federal Cartel Office is actually tasked with regularly reviewing this market situation. In November, the agency also opened proceedings against six municipal utilities and district heating suppliers on suspicion of abusive price increases. The situation has been attracting attention from consumer advocates for some time. But it is usually not clear to customers how exactly this invoice is generated. Customers have been confronted with enormous bills, but you have no choice and have to pay. The problem is that district heating providers regularly decouple their costs from the actual price development of the respective energy source. So, for example, a supplier who obtains heat from a waste incineration plant charges prices as if he were using natural gas. The Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) and the District Heating Association (AGFW) had already announced at the beginning of the year that they wanted to introduce a transparency platform so that consumers could compare their prices. According to energy law expert Werner Dorß, the Federal Cartel Office lacks the staff to do this. The vzbv no longer wants to watch this idly and has filed class action lawsuits against the two district heating providers EON and HanseWerk Natur. The district heating customer essentially pays for the loss-making local public transport, the expensive new swimming pool, or the ice rink, says Dorß. “Without the profits from district heating, communities would have to make savings elsewhere. It will take some time before politicians can bring themselves to change the situation.’