Fan heater boom in the gas crisis: But the calculation doesn't add up - there is even a risk of a black-out scenario

Created: 07/26/2022, 11:39 am

By: Patricia Huber

Dependence on Russian gas fuels fears ahead of winter.

That's why more and more people are buying fan heaters.

But that's not cheaper.

Munich – Putin turns the gas tap.

Germany and many other EU countries have felt this again and again in recent months.

One even gets the impression that the Russian President and the Gazprom company would decide almost arbitrarily how much gas would flow to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

This uncertainty is also fueling fears among German consumers.

At least that is what the purchasing behavior of the citizens shows.

Gas crisis: demand for fan heaters has risen enormously

There is currently a veritable boom in demand for electric fan heaters.

People are probably afraid that their gas will be turned off in winter and that they will therefore have to freeze.

Therefore, they are now resorting to the heating method via electricity.

"We are currently seeing above-average demand for electric heaters," says Germany's largest electronics retailer, Media Markt and Saturn.

"Our sales figures are 100 percent higher than in the previous year," reports Florian Preuss from the Hornbach DIY chain.

There have certainly been cases where the shelf was stocked with a new delivery of fan heaters on Monday and only a day later everything was gone, according to the hardware store industry.

Heating with electricity or gas: which is cheaper?

Heating your home with electricity may sound good at first, but it is a problem in the long run.

Despite the rise in gas prices, it is still likely to be significantly more expensive for consumers to heat with electricity.

Because the usual fan heaters also require a lot of electricity and here too the prices have risen in the past.

The

has used an example to calculate which heating method is really cheaper.

Heating with electricity or gas: which is cheaper?

First of all, the energy requirement also depends on how well an apartment is insulated.

In its example, the

calculates that 100 watts of electricity or gas are required per square meter of room area.

In an apartment of 50 square meters that is 5000 watts per hour.

For a fan heater with an output of around 1000 watts, you would need five devices (price per device between 40 and 50 euros, depending on the manufacturer).

If you calculate with a heating period of six months, that makes 182 days with heating for around 10 hours a day.

Overall, this results in an energy requirement of 9100 kilowatt hours.

According to

, the average

in June was

.

So they would

are about 3380 euros.

Not to forget the acquisition costs of five times 40 euros, it would already be

.

For comparison: According to the comparison

currently

costs

.

This results in total costs of

.

So if you heat your apartment completely with electricity, you pay

than with regular heating with gas.

Electric fan heaters: There is a risk of the power grid being overloaded

In addition to the costs of heating with electricity, there is also the risk of the electricity grid being overloaded.

"If millions of fan heaters are turned on on cold winter evenings, it can be dangerous for the power grid," says Marco Wünsch, head of the electricity division at the analysis company Prognos to the

.

A large-scale use of fan heaters could therefore bring the power grid to its knees.

Energy expert Christoph Maurer from Consentec also sees this as a problem: "This is a scenario that you have to prevent at almost any price." Heating with electric fan heaters is not only not worthwhile financially, it could also endanger the power supply.