After the announcement of a new draft law on the heat transition, many owners are unsettled. Should there be more specifications and rules? We explain what the new law means.
Berlin – The German government is continuing to work on the heat transition. In addition to the Building Energy Act (GEG), another law is now being planned to make the building sector climate-neutral by 2045. A first draft of the "Law for Heat Planning and Decarbonisation of Heating Networks" was first reported by the Bild newspaper.
The aim of the law is to advance the heat transition at the municipal level. To do this, it must first be established how the municipalities are currently heating, what infrastructure is already in place and where investments are still needed. After that, the municipalities are to gradually implement decarbonisation. The law is being drafted by the Ministry of Construction under the leadership of SPD Minister Klara Geywitz.
Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz speaks in the Bundestag. © Michael Kappeler/dpa/Archivbild
Consequences for owners cannot yet be assessed
According to the preliminary draft of the law, this information will be collected in large cities by 2026, and in smaller cities and counties by 2028. Based on this, heat plans can then be drawn up. In a city where most households currently heat with oil, different solutions would have to be found than in the city that has a heating network. At least that's the theory. The law also serves to provide planning security for municipalities, which have long been calling for more speed in climate-neutral heat planning.
It is not yet possible to predict exactly what the consequences will be for owners. According to Bild, tenants and landlords must collect energy consumption over the past three years and report it to local authorities. In addition, the municipalities are to record the current energy status of the buildings in their area. In other words, whether the houses are well insulated and whether they are efficient or not.
VKU welcomes the first draft
The preliminary draft of the new law is expressly welcomed by the Association of Municipal Enterprises (VKU). It shows "the relevance of urgently needed municipal heat planning," the association said in a press release. "At first glance, the system of heat planning laid out in the draft appears to be conclusive," says Ingbert Liebing, managing director of the association.
However, the VKU continues to insist on a technology-neutral approach. "We need many realistic options for the heat transition. Otherwise, heat planning makes no sense," Liebing continues. The association considers the insistence on the heat pump in the GEG to be the wrong approach.
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There is no reliable information on the timetable yet. According to Bild, the government could launch the law at the end of June. However, this seems extremely questionable, as the final draft is not yet ready and the key points are still being coordinated by the associations – the summer break will begin at the beginning of July. Therefore, a decision does not seem more realistic until autumn.
