In view of rising energy costs, the topic is suddenly topical again – and should also be discussed in the traffic light coalition negotiations. Several federal states, in which the SPD and the Greens provide the environment minister, are already putting pressure on and pushing for nationwide landlords to participate in the CO2 heating surcharge.
“It is clear that we will make a new attempt here,” said Lower Saxony’s Minister for the Environment, Energy, Building and Climate Protection, Olaf Lies (SPD), the Handelsblatt. The cost allocation creates incentives for landlords to promote the energetic renovation of their own portfolio. “Otherwise the interest of the landlord would not be guaranteed – the tenant pays the bill.”
He was “very happy that we already agreed in the exploratory paper that there must be social compensation for the costs of climate protection and energy prices,” Lies emphasized. “Climate protection must not become a luxury issue.”
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Consumers have to reckon with sharply rising heating costs this year, not only because of the CO2 price, but also because of higher energy prices and cooler weather. The consulting firm co2online predicts that this year the costs for a typical apartment with 70 square meters that is heated with gas could rise by 13 percent, which corresponds to 90 euros. Anyone who heats with heating oil must expect additional costs of 44 percent, 275 euros.
The Baden-Württemberg Environment Minister Thekla Walker (Greens) is calling for countermeasures from the next federal government against this background. “Yes, the additional costs should be distributed differently in the future than before,” Walker told the Handelsblatt. “It is important to me that the CO2 price can fully develop its effect.” The price supports the energy transition.
The Saxon Environment Minister Wolfram Günther (Greens) also called for a fair burden sharing. “The energy transition will not work without social balance. In addition, there is the current price development to which we have to react politically, ”Günther told the Handelsblatt.
The landlords would have to take on a share of the additional heating costs. “The necessary CO2 price must not lead to widening the social division in the country.” In addition, the steering effect of the CO2 price in the area of rental apartments would be ineffective if the additional heating costs were only passed on to the tenants.
The same thrust is pursued by a Federal Council initiative with which the states of Lower Saxony, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate want to call on the next federal government on Friday to take action in the distribution of the additional heating costs. Walker emphasized the need to switch from fossil fuel to regenerative energy supplies as quickly as possible in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve climate protection goals. “But this transformation has to be fair and socially just,” said the Green politician.
The German Consumer Association (VZBV) also considers the previous one-sided burden on tenants to be unacceptable. A half division of the costs is “more necessary than ever”, since only the landlord can decide on the type of heating, said VZBV boss Klaus Müller. “The new federal government must act quickly here.”
The housing industry is open to a “fair” distribution of costs. “The energy transition only works as a joint project to which everyone makes their contribution – the building owners through appropriate investments in a climate-neutral building stock and the residents through an adapted usage behavior in terms of energy consumption,” said Axel Gedaschko, President of the Central Association of the Housing Industry (GdW).
Gedaschko considers it important that the distribution of the CO2 costs is based on the energetic quality of the respective building. In residential buildings that the owner has already brought to a good energy level, the residents determine consumption based on their usage behavior and must also bear the CO2 costs. Conversely, in unrenovated buildings, the owner has to bear the costs. This is the only way for the CO2 price to have the intended steering effect.
FDP with its own model for sharing the additional costs
The FDP has so far strictly refused to allow landlords to participate in the CO2 price. However, the Liberals are not fundamentally opposed to sharing the additional heating costs. They just prefer a different approach to the topic. “We Free Democrats are convinced that a partial warm rental model for everyone involved – tenants and landlords – and the climate is the best,” said the building and housing policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Daniel Föst, the Handelsblatt.
According to the Liberal model, heating costs would be divided into basic costs and usage-dependent costs. The net cold rent and basic heating costs therefore result in the partial warm rent that tenants pay to landlords.
The landlords, in turn, provide basic heating for the apartment. The usage-dependent part also goes to the landlord and is billed at the end of the year based on usage. According to Föst, this would create incentives for landlords to invest in energy-efficient refurbishment and for tenants to invest in energy-saving energy consumption, because they would benefit from the falling usage-dependent costs.
More: Nord Stream 2 puts a strain on the traffic lights – USA warn of “life-threatening” energy crisis in Europe.