Today, the German Energy Agency (dena) published new survey results on rising energy costs and heating behavior among German households. The majority of consumers stated that they would make significant adjustments to their heating behavior due to high energy costs. In addition, 83 percent were in favor of using planned relief measures to provide financial relief for citizens with low and medium incomes.
For this representative survey, the market research institute forsa on behalf of dena interviewed a total of 1,019 people in Germany in September 2022.
These are further details:
- In view of rising energy prices, 83 percent of respondents said they were in favor of relief measures to ease the financial burden for low- and middle-income households.
- 15 percent of respondents said that all citizens should receive relief regardless of their income.
- Due to the high energy costs, German consumers are adjusting their heating behavior by, for example, turning down the thermostat and paying more attention to heating times (40 percent), planning to heat fewer rooms (32 percent), lowering the flow temperature on the existing heating system (19 percent) or expanding or replacing their heating system (14 percent). New insulation measures on the building envelope are currently planned by eight percent of respondents.
- Other options included purchasing electric radiators or investing in renewable technologies such as solar thermal (four percent each) and installing an additional stove or fireplace (three percent).
Andreas Kuhlmann, Chairman of dena's Management Board, noted: "The survey shows that the crisis has reached almost all households and is causing corresponding uncertainty, but also a lot of activity. However, the level of information about the best options for action still has considerable room for improvement. Here, I see a lot of savings potential for the upcoming winter through intensified communication with a stronger and, above all, more emphasized focus on the right target groups. Moreover, people in the country have a good sense of the need to focus scarce financial resources well on the particularly affected income groups. This is an important indication for the Gas Commission and the political actors, who must then translate its proposals into concrete and fast-acting action as quickly as possible."
Source: dena
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