The planned ban on oil and gas heating has caused a dispute in the coalition.
Now the rules are finally in place.
What owners need to know now.
Berlin - The traffic light coalition has reached a compromise on the Building Energy Act (GEG) with the planned ban on the installation of new gas and oil heating systems.
This should now go to the state and association hearing and then be discussed in the Bundestag.
The law should finally be passed in the summer.
Here is an overview of what owners are also entitled to if the proposed regulations are retained.
Ban on oil and gas heating: what will change for property owners?
It stays the same: the compromise stipulates that from January 1, 2024, newly installed heating systems must be operated with 65 percent renewable energies.
This means that from next year it will no longer be possible to install new, pure oil and gas heating systems.
This applies to both new and existing buildings.
Owners could now come up with the idea of quickly installing a new gas heating system this year.
But this could prove to be an expensive rush job.
Ban on oil and gas heating: What alternative heating options are there?
The compromise provides for openness to technology.
This means that an owner can decide for himself how his heating meets the 65 percent rule.
Gas heaters can still be installed if they are operated with 65 percent green gases or in combination with a heat pump.
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Existing gas heaters may continue to be operated after 2024.
© Bernd Friedel/Imago
So-called H2-ready gas heaters can also be installed.
These are heaters that can be converted to 100 percent hydrogen.
However, they are only an option if the municipality has binding investment and transformation plans for a hydrogen network.
In addition, these heaters must be operated with at least 50 percent biomethane from 2030 and with at least 65 percent green hydrogen from 2036 at the latest.
In addition to green hydrogen, blue hydrogen is also possible.
However, strict criteria are planned.
Blue hydrogen is made from natural gas, but the resulting CO₂ is captured and stored.
Other possibilities would be the use of solar thermal and hybrid systems, in which the heat pump covers the basic supply and the gas heating steps in on cold days.
Other variants are also possible, such as direct electricity heating, the use of biomass or connection to a heating network.
Ban on oil and gas heating: Can existing systems continue to be operated?
However, existing oil and gas heating systems can continue to be operated after January 1, 2024, and there is no immediate obligation to replace them.
Defective heaters can even be repaired, but only up to a certain age: boilers have to be replaced after 30 years.
An exception is made for owners who moved into a property they owned before 1 January 2002.
However, the upper limit of 2045 also applies here, by which time Germany wants to be climate-neutral.
This means that heaters can only be operated with fossil fuels until the end of December 2044, after which this is no longer permitted.
Ban on oil and gas heating: what happens to irreparable installations?
If an oil or gas heating system is defective and can no longer be repaired, temporary solutions and transitional periods are provided.
After an accident, heaters powered by fossil fuels can be installed first.
However, this heating system must be ecologically retrofitted within three years in order to meet the 65 percent requirement.
After this transitional period has expired, it is possible to continue using it as a hybrid heating system, for example in combination with a heat pump.
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For owners who live in their property themselves and are over 80 years old, there is no obligation to convert to renewable energies in the event of an accident.
If the house is inherited or sold, the new law applies again, albeit with a transitional period of two years.
Ban on oil and gas heating: what hardship clause is there?
According to the Ministry of Finance, general hardship clauses have been reaffirmed and expanded, which provide for an exemption from the 65 percent target for new heating systems in the event of disproportionately high investment costs without secured savings.
This is to apply when the necessary investments are disproportionate to the value of the building or disproportionate to the savings that can be achieved through retrofitting.
This applies to poorly insulated old houses.
Ban on oil and gas heating: What financial aid is there?
The installation of a heat pump, a biomass heating system or the connection to a heating network should continue to be subsidized in order to reduce the difference to the cheaper gas heating.
The installation of heat pumps, for example, is already subsidized with up to 40 percent.
Exact amounts or subsidy rates are still not fixed.
So far, the traffic light government has only promised financial support for the switch to climate-friendly heating, so as not to overwhelm anyone and to provide incentives for voluntary conversion.
According to the Ministry of Finance, there should be a kind of scrapping bonus for old systems.
The amount could be based on "how old and dirty" the heating to be replaced is, said Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the
picture on Sunday
.
Ban on oil and gas heating: what about apartment buildings with gas heating?
For multi-family houses with gas heating, where everyone has their own thermal bath in the apartment, there should be a total of six years.
If the first gas floor heating system in the building fails, the owners must choose a heating system that meets the new requirements within three years.
If they decide to centralize the heating, they have another three years to implement it.
List of rubrics: © Bernd Friedel/Imago
