As of: February 5, 2024, 3:33 p.m
By: Julian Limmer
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Utility billing © R. Rebmann/IMAGO
Shock for a tenant from Harlaching: her additional payment for heating and operating costs has increased more than sixfold.
Instead of 450, she should now pay more than 3,000 euros.
Mandy Werner (46) is still shocked when she holds the letter from the municipal housing company GWG (now Münchner Wohnen) in her hands.
She tightly clutches her landlord's note listing her heating and operating costs for 2022.
Werner and her partner had to pay a total of 3065.73 euros!
Compared to the previous year, the amount has increased more than sixfold!
At that time she paid 450.03 euros, similar to previous years.
“We thought this must be a mistake,” she says.
The medical-technical assistant lives with her partner on 44 square meters in Harlaching directly on the clinic site.
“We would never have expected such an amount.” But it quickly became clear: it wasn’t just them who were affected.
Some of their neighbors in the urban housing complex also have to pay similarly high additional payments.
Münchner Wohnen confirmed this after a “random check”, as it announced upon request.
And the house in Harlaching is not an isolated case: last October our newspaper reported on a GWG residential complex in Harthof in which tenants had to make additional payments of up to more than 2,000 euros.
A main reason for many of those affected: extremely high heating costs.
We thought this must be a mistake.
Tenant Mandy Werner about her heating bill © Markus Götzfried
Several tenants of municipal residential complexes complain about high costs
The Left Party in the city council recently called for clarification after the Merkur report.
With the help of experts, it was calculated that at times in 2022, residents in Harthof had to pay “significantly more” for a kilowatt hour of gas from the municipal utilities than the basic tariff of other customers - especially during the price increases caused by the energy crisis in 2022, according to the Left Party.
Münchner Wohnen replies: It has a special contract with the municipal utilities, the price of which adjusts quarterly to that of the energy market.
This contract is “basically” cheaper for the tenants than the basic tariff.
Especially now that prices are falling again, Münchner Wohnen is expecting a significant relaxation.
Cases from 2022 still have to be examined.
“The operating and heating cost bills have led to existential problems for many
However, many tenants are very frustrated.
“We receive letters with complaints almost every day,” says city councilor Stefan Jagel (Die Linke).
Around 40 tenants of urban residential areas in Sendling-Westpark, Bogenhausen and Harlaching contacted him within around a week.
It always involves high additional payments of up to 3,000 euros.
Our newspaper also has a case from a municipal residential complex in Feldmoching, where sharp increases in heating and operating costs are “extremely stressful” for two socially disadvantaged senior citizens, as their legal representative describes.
He now even wants to sue.
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“The operating and heating cost bills have led to existential problems for many,” says city councilor Jagel.
Mandy Werner from Harlaching is also hit hard: “It takes a big toll on her savings.” The high heating and operating costs really messed up her budget.
Especially since she recently had to take unpaid leave more often in order to be able to spend time with her seriously ill sister.
“A sixfold increase seems very, very high”
Werner objected to the billing in December - shortly after receiving the letter.
Since then, there has been radio silence: “Simply not receiving an answer to my questions increases my anger,” she says.
Münchner Wohnen points to many “very time-consuming” inquiries that it currently has to process – that’s why it takes time.
We will approach tenants as quickly as possible.
It is not possible to comment on Mandy Werner's individual case - the case must first be checked.
It was only discovered that the consumption of the entire residential complex was “far above average”.
Werner replies that she hasn't changed anything in her personal heating behavior: "We only heat the living room - that can't be the reason." The Munich tenants' association says about her case: "A six-fold increase seems very, very high." That is unusual – even in the year of the energy crisis.
Mandy Werner is now hoping for answers to her questions.
The waiting becomes a burden.