Winter is slowly but surely arriving in the district.
Time to properly heat the houses and apartments.
The problem with this is that the cost of oil and gas has exploded in the past few months.
District
- Anyone who has been out in the fresh air early in the morning or late at night has inevitably noticed: Winter is coming.
The heating starts up - and that should be significantly more expensive than before.
“The prices have skyrocketed,” says Nicolas Prankl, whose family business has been supplying heating oil in and around Starnberg for around 50 years.
Anyone who paid around 1100 euros for 3000 liters last year - which roughly corresponds to the annual consumption of a single-family house - now has to put around 2500 euros on the table.
In the case of natural gas, the increase is even sevenfold in some cases.
"This is completely insane."
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Nicolas Prankl sells heating oil in the district with his company.
© Photo: private
He cites the reason, among other things, of the Corona crisis, in which industry in many places stood idle for a long time and therefore little heating oil was used. The oversupply on the market led to very low prices in 2020, which will now go up sharply as demand increases. The newly introduced CO2 tax also plays a role. "That alone makes about ten cents per liter," emphasizes Prankl. Since this is to be increased again, he does not see any improvement for the consumer anytime soon. His current advice: "Better to buy today than tomorrow."
Understandably, Prankl's customers are not exactly enthusiastic about this.
“There is always some grumbling,” he says.
“Even if we as a supplier do not make money from the rising market prices.” Richard Gutjahr, heating oil dealer from Wörthsee, experiences the same.
“People are generally totally insecure,” he emphasizes.
Again and again he hears, for example, that oil heating will be banned from 2026.
It is “total rubbish”. Only a new installation is associated with significantly more requirements from then on.
"The heating that is already there," says Gutjahr, "can stay in there."
Tips: This is how you can reduce heating costs
- Ventilate properly: Briefly ventilating the room effectively exchanges the air without cooling the walls.
- Vent the radiators regularly: air in the radiators prevents them from getting really warm.
- Set thermostats correctly: every degree saves six percent heating energy.
But be careful: If the rooms are too cool, there is a risk of mold.
- Use programmable thermostats: This allows room temperatures to be set automatically.
- Close roller blinds, curtains and blinds at night: This way the windows are additionally insulated and it stays warm.
- Sealing windows: Leaking windows increase energy consumption in the house.
- Saving hot water: around 14 percent of the total heating energy is required for hot water.
A saving shower head or flow limiter are helpful.
- Insulate heating pipes and radiator niches: Unnecessary heat losses can be avoided here with the help of prefabricated insulation elements.
- Have the heating system serviced regularly: an annual inspection reduces heating costs and increases the service life.
August Mehr, board member of the Starnberger See housing association and chairman of the house owners association Haus und Grund, did not miss the rising heating costs. Most of the 569 apartments rented by the cooperative have already been extensively renovated. "In the houses from the 1960s onwards, we replaced the old gas boiler with more modern heating systems," says Mehr. In addition, the walls were insulated. “In the end we have always come to around 50 cents of heating costs per square meter.” This year he expects an increase of 20 percent. The tenants of the cooperative's new building on Himbselstrasse in Starnberg have less to worry about. “We decided to use heat pump heating there.” In general, he sees alternative heating options on the rise.“People want to make themselves independent of raw materials,” says Mehr. Whether a heat pump, pellet heating or photovoltaic system is ultimately cheaper than oil and gas, he is not sure. "But they are definitely more climate-friendly."
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August Mehr is chairman of the housing association.
© Andrea Jaksch
The Verband Wohnen manages around 2500 tenancies in the district.
For better or worse, part of the rising heating costs will be passed on to the residents.
"Otherwise we would have to increase the rent," says department head Jacqueline Schürger.
“And we want to avoid that.” Her hope is that some tenants will be able to fall back on deliberately high advance payments made in recent years.
“That could pay off this year.” If the bill is too high for you in one fell swoop, you can also transfer it in installments.
Schürger emphasizes: "We will find a solution for everyone." Lf / Nutz
