Heating help: This is how Munich residents get the heat money

Created: 01/04/2023 06:04

By: Klaus Vick

Seniors like Anni Eimann are suffering from rising energy costs.

© Achim Schmidt

The Stadtwerke provide a heat fund of 20 million euros.

This is how Munich residents can get the heat money.

Munich - A help in difficult months, in times of rising energy prices and galloping inflation: From January 16, low-income citizens can apply for a cash injection to better cope with the high heating costs.

The city of Munich explained the details yesterday.

Munich: Who is entitled to apply for the heat fund?

In total, Stadtwerke provided a heat fund of 20 million euros.

The sum results from above-planned profits from wind farm investments.

Julia Sterzer, spokeswoman for the Munich welfare organizations, expects up to 20,000 households to apply for the flat rate.

People who receive housing benefit or child allowance, have a gray Munich passport or have a monthly net income that is below the Munich poverty risk threshold can apply.

For a one-person household, the limit is 1,540 euros, for two people it is 2,310 euros, for a family with one child under the age of 14 it is 2,770 euros and for a family with two children over the age of 14, for example, 3,850 euros net.

The amount of the lump sum is 700 euros per person, plus 300 euros for each additional household member.

A family with two children would receive 1600 euros.

Persons who receive citizen income, social assistance or asylum seeker benefits are not entitled.

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This is how Munich residents get heat money

The applications can be downloaded online (www.waermefonds.de/download) or submitted in the social community centers and at the locations of the welfare organizations (www.waermefonds.de/anlaufstellen).

The energy hotline of the Diakonie Munich and Upper Bavaria (089/126 991 - 5150) will help if you have any questions.

The applicant must always be the recipient of the heating bill.

Mayor Verena Dietl (SPD) said that the city hopes that this heat fund will take away the worries of those in need of being able to pay their heating bills.

Julia Sterzer, managing director of Arbeiterwohlfahrt, explained that it was important "that the help reached the people directly".

This was also emphasized by social officer Dorothee Schiwy (SPD): "We want to reach the citizenry widely." Federal aid alone would not be enough in these difficult times.

worry about the bill

Anni Eimann is a modest woman.

She is still worried about the next heating bill.

Because the 70-year-old pensioner only has 400 euros per month to live on.

She also wants to apply for the one-off annual heating fee of 700 euros.

Like many other pensioners in Munich, she can use the money well.

The grant helps her make ends meet, she says.

According to Stadtwerke, the average heating bill for a two- to three-room apartment was 1,200 euros per year.

That amount is likely to double.

Stadtwerke München: Heat fund could increase

The fund of 20 million euros is designed for the years 2023 and 2024.

If the sum is exhausted prematurely, the city and municipal utilities will consider whether the heat fund should be increased again.