ᐅ Cold district heating network connection line for new development area

Dear forum, in the new development area where we actually planned to start building this March, the local district heating provider has now sent us their latest cost update for 2024. Essentially, they plan to operate a low-temperature district heating network at about 38°C (100°F) for underfloor heating and install a second circuit at around 70°C (158°F) for domestic hot water heating. A domestic hot water storage tank or solar system for drinking water heating inside the house is contractually excluded. The labor cost is set at 15 cents/kWh, which is already quite high.

My problem is the required connection capacity of 15 kW, which the provider says must be this high because the second district heating circuit with 70°C (158°F) water is always kept ready. For each kW of connection capacity, there is an annual fixed charge of €119, which would mean a fixed cost of €1,785 per year alone. Including everything, we would end up paying over €300 per month for heating a KfW 55 house!?

MY QUESTION: Can the district heating provider really enforce this 15 kW connection capacity and simply exclude a domestic hot water storage tank? For heating the house alone, about 6 kW would basically be sufficient. Has anyone heard of a district heating system with one circuit for underfloor heating and a separate one for domestic hot water production?

Hello,
this is exactly the downside of local or district heating: you are completely dependent on one supplier who can charge you unreasonable prices.

You should assume this is not the end of the road. The setup with two different pipelines sounds more like a way to maximize effort and increase the contract value as much as possible.

The 15 kW are needed for domestic hot water heating. If the domestic water is heated almost on demand, you will need that.

The question is whether you have to pay for the "heating" transfer station in your house yourself, or if it is included in the basic price. If you save 15,000 to 20,000 euros on a heat pump, you can of course pay a long-term basic fee and still come out ahead. Depreciation and maintenance of your own heating system add up quickly to around 1,500 euros per year, which most people tend to forget. Then the offer wouldn’t be completely unreasonable.

If you also have to pay extra for the transfer station inside your house, the calculation looks bad...

Best regards,

Andreas

Hello, yes, basically you are right about the heat pump investment. However, this is a new development area by a property developer, and the developer structured their calculation so that a heat pump is not necessary, but the price of the house is not really reduced because of this. Instead, the developer offered a slightly more comprehensive construction specification for this development than usual. This should have included about 15,000 to 20,000 more in luxury features, but in reality, it was closer to 4,000 €. And since the connection to the district heating system also costs nearly 7,000 €, you definitely feel a bit overcharged. If the plot of land weren’t so suitable, we probably wouldn’t have chosen this development area from the developer in the first place. But you are right, this is a major downside of a district heating provider, whose cost calculations are currently getting a bit out of hand due to declining new construction projects. In the end, you have to decide for yourself whether it still makes sense to go along with it 🙁 Basically, I was only interested in whether everything is legally correct regarding the 15 kW connection capacity because of the second hot water circuit. And I am also wondering whether something like this with two district heating circuits has ever actually been implemented technically anywhere?

We also have a local heating connection and barely notice the heating costs. We couldn’t have found a better option.
Maintenance costs are nearly zero, no chimney sweep needed. It couldn’t have been cheaper.

But why are two circuits necessary? That seems pointless. What’s the purpose? With 70°C (158°F), I can run a heating system as well, right?