State emergency aid for district heating customers 

In order to relieve households and smaller enterprises in the short term, the Federal Government decided to guarantee an one-time-only emergency aid in December 2022 for heating customers, financed from federal funds. It is meant to compensate the increased energy bills in 2022 as well as to bridge the time until the planned  implementation of the price brake on heating next spring. As a rule, the so-called December emergency aid corresponds to a 120 per cent of the September installment 2022 and is based on the Erdgas-Wärme-Soforthilfegesetz EWSG (Act on Gas and Heat Emergency Aid).

The December emergency aid planned and financed by the Federal Government will be passed on to our customers. Below, we have compiled the most important information on the topic for you. All customers that have a right to receive the emergency aid will be informed by letter.

 

Who receives the December emergency aid?

The emergency aid is received basically by:

  • customers with an annual heat consumption of up to 1.5 kWh (except licensed hospitals)
  • landlords who have more households or tenants connected to their point of withdrawal 
  • owners corporations
  • customer groups with the right for compenstaion as in § 4 Erdgas-Wärme-Soforthilfegesetz (EWSG)

Your heat consumption is part of your incidental costs? In this case, the relief will be passed on to the tenants by the respective landlord. 

Information on handling customer data 
We inform you as per § 4 Abs. 4 EWSG and Art. 14 DS-GVO in relation to our privacy policy that, as in § 9 Abs. 5 EWSG and regarding the financial compensation of the December emergency aid, we are obliged to forward the following personal customer data to the federal commissioner: Information on the customer relations relevant for the requested refund, indication of e-mail, phone number and address as well as the amount of the installment for September 2022 and the supply amount of 2021 or the accounting period.

 

Calculation of the relief for district heating customers - this is how it works.

The December emergency aid is an one-time payment and its calculation is defined legally. It will be paid as transfer into the check account of the respective district heating customer. 
Important: The instalment for December has to be paid as agreed nonetheless. 

Contracts with 12 instalments per year

For customers who paid an instalment for district heating in September 2022 and who pay in monthly instalments all-year, the compensation corresponds to a 120 % of the September instalment 2022.  

Contracts with irregular instalments or monthly bills 

For customers who receive monthly billing, or whose contract is designed for less than 12 instalments per year, the amount of the compensation depends on the legal guidelines in § 4 EWSG.

Saving energy is still the call of the hour

Spartipps

District heating is mainly gained from natural gas. Even if the gas storages are currently well filled - the heating season has begun and the temperatures are dropping. We have prepared some clues on how to save energy. Maybe you can apply the one or other - good for you and your purse.  

 Click here to go to our energy saving tips

How does the December emergency aid work?

In this video, Ines Eckert (Head of corporate communications ) explains how the December emergency aid for gas- and district heating customers work.