Since the budget freeze in November, there has been no calm in the funding landscape. Applications for funding are currently not being processed and there is a break. If you want to renovate, you shouldn't wait.
Berlin – Anyone who decides today to improve their house with a renovation must be prepared for a test of patience. Since March, a central funding program has been temporarily on hold - or, to put it in the words of the responsible authority: "there are delays in approvals and disbursements of funding". This is what the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) wrote on Wednesday (April 10) in a message to energy efficiency experts that
IPPEN.MEDIA
has received.
Funding for energy consultations can still be provided
This is the latest information on the subject since the Association of Energy Consultants (GIH) pointed out the fact at the end of March. Since then, BAFA has reiterated several times that there is no funding stop and that funding will be paid out - only that there is a staggering of funds over time. There is therefore a pause in approvals and applications can still be submitted.
However, the experts in the industry do not see it that way. In an interview with
IPPEN.MEDIA
, energy efficiency expert Alexander Bock from the company ÖkoVision says that there is basically already a break in funding, even if the authorities may call it something else. “You can submit applications, that’s true. But then you first join a long queue that is processed chronologically,” says Alexander Bock.
Energy advice for heating replacement and bonus for renovation schedule necessary
Industry representatives already know this process. As part of the budget freeze in November 2023, funding for energy consultations was also stopped, only to be resumed in the new year after the agreement on the 2024 budget. Back then, too, the applications were processed chronologically, but this created an enormous backlog that continues to this day. “Before this new funding break, it took up to six weeks for the notification to arrive. Before the budget crisis, it took maybe two weeks,” says Bock. And now the program is paused again.
Energy advice is actually funded by the state with up to 80 percent of the costs; a maximum of 1,700 euros is paid for advice. Such advice is intended to help homeowners prepare their property for the energy transition. A so-called “individual renovation roadmap” (iSFP) is drawn up, which shows the individual steps to improve the energy efficiency of the building and sets out the time and money. Anyone who sets up an iSFP receives additional subsidies from the state when implementing the measures. The Energy Consultants Association writes in a statement that without iSFP, state support could fall from 12,000 to 4,500 euros.
What is also new since 2024 is that energy advice is mandatory before installing a new gas heating system. Only those who have previously received comprehensive information from an energy consultant about the CO₂ price and the possible costs associated with a new gas heating system can have such a heating system installed. This is part of the new heating law that has been in force since January 1st.
Energy consultations are a central support program for the energy transition
Essentially, for many people, especially private owners, energy advice is the first step on the way to transforming the entire house. Anyone who doesn't know where to start with the renovation needs advice and the iSFP. If this very central funding program is blocked, it will block the entire chain of actions that would follow it. What remains are unsettled homeowners who know that they want and should improve their house's energy efficiency - but obstacles keep getting put in their way along the way. A story that may already sound familiar from the time of the many discussions about the heating law.
“In the end, it is the private customers who are repeatedly thwarted,” says Alexander Bock. His company ÖkoVision has many commercial customers who want to know how they can save energy costs, some of which have gone through the roof in the last few years. The most important thing for them is to start with the renovation in order to save these enormous costs - if the funding comes a few months later than originally hoped, it is usually less dramatic.
Recommendation from energy consultant: Apply for funding now
This is different for private customers, who of course want to wait until they have a secure commitment to the funding. Months go by during which private owners cannot (or cannot) begin the transformation and therefore do not save on energy costs. “Our experience also shows that private customers who are currently unsettled and are able to carry out renovations without funding are now deciding to get started without a renovation timetable - but this inevitably means that not everything is always taken into account. This also applies to follow-up funding that private individuals without energy experts are not aware of,” says Bock.
His appeal to private owners is now: Anyone who knows that he or she is planning to renovate this year should apply for funding. The expectation is that the decision will only be available in a few months - and then everything will really get rolling. “Anyone who waits now risks the queue becoming even longer,” he explains his recommendation.