Immediate help for gas customers: "The federal government pays the bill" for a one-off payment in December

Created: 11/28/2022, 13:00

By: Mark Stoffers

The emergency aid will come in December, but for tenants it could only take effect much later.

© Hauke-Christian Dittrich /dpa

Gas customers receive emergency aid because of the energy prices.

There will be an advance payment in December 2022.

The most important thing about a one-off payment.

Munich – The emergency aid for gas customers in December has long been decided.

The one-off payment from the state is the reaction to the skyrocketing energy costs that German citizens are facing this winter.

With the one-off payment, the federal government wants to cushion the increase in energy costs for households and companies.

The aim of the December gas aid is to offset the increased energy bills in 2022 in December.

At the same time, the one-time down payment is intended to initially serve as a relief and as a result as a bridge to overcome the time until the planned introduction of the heat and gas price brake in spring 2023.

Emergency aid for gas in December: Who gets the gas money as a one-off down payment?

But who will receive the emergency aid in December?

Households and smaller companies with an annual consumption of up to 1.5 million kilowatt hours receive the one-time relief payment for heat and gas customers.

Facilities in the care and education sectors as well as in medical care, whose consumption is possibly higher, also receive gas aid.

The so-called natural gas emergency aid law reaches consumers via their energy suppliers as relief in the form of a one-off gas advance payment, for which the government takes the bill.

Gas customer emergency aid: Do I have to pay for gas in December – “The federal government pays the bill”

"With the emergency aid for December, we are relieving households and small and medium-sized companies directly and very effectively," said Federal Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck on the immediate aid for gas customers.

“The federal government takes on the bill for the December payment for the delivery of gas and district heating.

The important thing is that consumers do not have to do anything, they will automatically benefit from the emergency aid.

The relief is implemented via the natural gas suppliers and heat supply companies.

Only these companies now have to submit an application.”

Gas aid in December as a one-off payment: when the gas deduction will come

When is the gas cut?

In December, the state pays the installment payment (amount of the September installment) for district heating and gas customers.

The cap on the gas price brake: From March 2023 to at least April 2024, a gross price of 12 cents per kilowatt hour should apply to 80 percent of gas consumption.

How is the emergency aid for gas calculated?

The law starts with taking over the down payment of one twelfth of the annual consumption in December.

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Emergency gas aid in December: Heat and gas suppliers can register a claim for payment with the state

The law for the implementation of the gas emergency aid December gives around 1,500 energy suppliers and heat supply companies a refund or an advance payment claim against the Federal Republic of Germany.

These companies can now request payment of their claim.

Emergency aid for gas customers: How high is the down payment in December 2022?

The emergency aid in December provides that gas customers are released from their advance payments for the month.

The relief for natural gas consists of one twelfth of the annual consumption and the price agreed for December 2022.

The inclusion of the gas price in December is intended to ensure that the significant price increases in 2022 throughout the year are included to the benefit of end users in the form of gas aid.

Gas aid in December: an expert explains how gas customers receive the one-off payment from the state

While tenants, homeowners and families receive some support from the state, the amount of gas discount relief in December 2022 will be calculated based on one-twelfth of the annual consumption that the supplier had previously forecast and the December gas price.

In this way, "savings incentives" would be retained, said the parliamentary state secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Michael Kellner, in the Bundesrat.

Tenants should receive the December relief with the next annual heating bill.

Landlords have one year to prepare and submit the statement, but must notify the estimated credit as early as this December.

• Gas customers who pay their energy bills by

  SEPA direct debit

  would not need to take action on the gas deduction in December, since the provider is under an obligation not to collect the money.

• In the case of a monthly

  transfer

  , gas customers must independently stop their payment for December: However, this only applies to the amount for gas or district heating.

  The amount for gas or district heating must be transferred again after the one-off payment of the gas deduction from January 2023.

• Customers who have placed a

  standing

  order must change it twice.

  The amount for gas or district heating does not have to be transferred in December, but the standing order has to be set up again in January.

Financial

tip editor-in-chief Herrmann-Josef Tenhagen advises

for

recipients: If the gas bill is paid by direct debit, it may be up to the gas company not to collect the money.

If you have a standing order, you should suspend it for the month.

In the event that you pay the gas bill by bill, you should simply not pay for a month.

To find out how much you don't have to pay, you can simply look at the discount for the past month.

Emergency aid for district heating customers in December 2022: How high is the down payment?

It's similar with district heating, but a little different than with gas.

According to the federal government's paper, the emergency aid should correspond to the amount of the September bill, plus a flat-rate adjustment factor that should take into account the price increase in the months up to December.

The advance payment for gas and district heating should be credited to the respective supplier.

Both tenants and members of so-called homeowners' communities should receive the emergency aid as part of their annual heating bills.

The federal government hopes that the measure will benefit not only private district heating and gas customers but also smaller companies.

Emergency gas aid for tenants: One-off payment only comes with the heating bill – with some exceptions

Landlords are obliged to pass on the relief to their tenants, but only as part of the heating bill in the coming year.

Thus, the one-off payment for emergency gas aid in December may not reach tenants until next year's billing.

An exception applies to emergency gas aid if landlords have increased the operating cost advance payments in the past nine months in anticipation of high heating costs.

In these cases, tenants do not have to pay the amount of the increase in December.

For example, if landlords increased the operating cost advance payments in May or September due to rising heating costs by 100 euros from 200 euros to 300 euros, their tenants only owe them 200 euros in December.

In the case of tenancies in which advance payments for operating costs have been agreed for the first time, tenants are exempt from a flat rate of 25 percent of the advance payments in December.

Immediate gas help for owners: In the case of central heating, the relief must first be included in the annual statement

If there is a central heating system, this means for apartment owners: The relief only has to be passed on to the apartment owners as a result of the annual statement and must be shown separately on the bill.

This circumstance means that the advance payment fixed for the month of December will not change.

The relief for each apartment is only deducted in the individual billing and then reduces the respective billing peak.

Immediate aid: installment payment in December 2022 as a bridge to the gas price cap

With the emergency aid in December 2022, one also wants to bridge the time until the planned introduction of the gas price brake next spring.

The idea of ​​a gas price brake ultimately prevailed over the originally planned gas levy.

“With the emergency aid in December, gas and heat customers will be effectively relieved across the board.

This is an important building block to protect citizens and companies from unacceptable burdens due to very high gas and heat prices," said Finance Minister Christian Lindner, explaining the relief for citizens through the one-off payment.

“The emergency aid is part of a systemic solution that fundamentally addresses the problem of high energy prices.

In doing so, we want to enable a smooth transition into a situation in which gas prices are less volatile, but which are likely to be higher than in 2021. This will help to maintain healthy and competitive companies, secure jobs and maintain prosperity.”

Emergency aid in December: what is special about tenants?

As a rule, tenants do not obtain energy directly from the utility, but rather from the landlord.

If that is the case, the emergency aid could only reach the tenants in December with the next annual heating bill, i.e. with a significant delay.

This circumstance caused clear criticism from consumer protection groups and the demand for improvements has been around for a long time.

Because landlords usually have one year to prepare and submit the statement.

Even if landlords have to inform their tenants about the estimated credit as early as December 2022.

In the worst case, tenants could only find out how high the relief will actually be in the end in December 2023.

What consumers can expect after the emergency aid for gas in December

Nevertheless, emergency aid for gas customers in December is essential.

Because without the interventions in the energy markets, there could be immense price increases.

The gas price brake is to follow the emergency aid for gas in December.

The federal government's plans stipulate that there should be a price cap for gas from March 2023 to at least April 2024.

Accordingly, a gross price of 12 cents per kilowatt hour should apply to 80 percent of gas consumption.

In the case of district heating, there should also be a gross price of 9.5 cents per kilowatt hour for 80 percent of consumption.

After gas aid in December: Federal government decides retroactive gas price brake for January and February

Now the federal government has probably agreed on a relief gap for the months of January and February in the gas price brake planned from March.

As can be seen from a draft law presented to the German Press Agency on Tuesday, the relief amount determined for March is to be extended to the months of January and February 2023 “retrospectively”, so to speak.

Emergency aid in December and gas price brake 2023: the federal government wants to finance measures

As with so many reliefs before, the question of financing always arises with the emergency aid for gas in December and the gas price brake.

Government circles recently commented on the project and pointed out that the measures to relieve gas customers should be taken from the so-called economic stabilization fund.

This defense shield has funds of 200 billion euros.

According to federal calculations, the costs for the emergency aid in December alone are in the high single-digit billions.