Emergency aid for December and gas price brake

After weeks of discussion in the media about possible measures to combat the sharp rise in energy prices, the German government has now decided on further concrete aid in addition to the already implemented reduction in VAT from 19% to 7% for gas and heating.

We explain what the implementation of the resolutions on the Natural Gas Heat Emergency Aid Act (EWSG) means for you:

Emergency aid in December:
The German government has decided to provide emergency aid to provide short-term, one-off relief to consumers for natural gas and heating. Where the supply is regulated by a landlord, the December relief financed with federal funds will be passed on with the annual heating bill. The amount of the reimbursement is based on the agreed advance payment or 1/12 of the annual consumption of the central heating system in your residential building.

• You can find the refund amount for your heating system in the table below
• The reimbursement contribution will be shown separately in the 2022 heating cost statement and offset accordingly; it will therefore benefit your heating cost share
• You will receive the heating bill for 2022 as usual in fall 2023

Your option for December 2022:
If your monthly advance payments have been increased within the last nine months due to the energy crisis, you have the option of reducing your advance heating cost payment for December 2022 once by the amount of the last adjustment. If your advance payments were increased in June, for example, you can reduce them for December to the previously applicable, lower May amount.

If you have been charged an advance payment for heating costs for the first time this year, for example due to a new contract, you can reduce the amount for December by a flat rate of 25%.

Please note, however, that the advance payment reduction for December is not a credit note. The reduced advance payment will be taken into account in the next heating bill, which is why higher additional claims are possible.

Answers to frequently asked questions can be found here. The Federal Government has also created an information page which you can access via this link.

The gas price brake
No legal basis has yet been provided by the federal government, but there are plans to introduce a cost cap for the period from February/March 2023 to April 2024. According to current information, the costs for the majority of annual consumption are to be capped at 12 ct/kWh for gas and 9 ct/kWh for heat.

Important! These plans will no longer have an effect on the 2022 billing, and as prices in recent years were still around 3-6 ct/kWh gas, a significant increase in costs must be expected despite the gas price brake.