ᐅ Gas Price Increase Effective January 1, 2022

Tom1978 schrieb:

I’m no longer taking anything here personally 🙂 But I do know many homeowners in the area who have built or are still building with gas boilers in the last two years. It’s clear that in the past, gas boilers were the better heating option, for example compared to oil heating. However, nowadays I think building with gas is outdated.

Yes, that may be a preamble, but it doesn’t belong here. There are plenty of threads in the forum discussing the (lack of) sensibility of gas heating…

matte1987 schrieb:

Yes, that may be relevant background but it doesn’t belong here. There are plenty of threads in the forum discussing the (lack of) sense of gas heating systems anyway...

...or other nonsensical issues, for example houses with excessively large footprints that consume valuable land resources. Never mind.

Hangman schrieb:

Yes, that applies to some people here and as a heat pump/photovoltaic supporter you don’t need to be a smart aleck. But unfortunately, it also goes the other way: there are forum members who take their own (wrong) decision as the norm and still claim that heat pumps are more expensive and complicated nonsense; photovoltaics are unprofitable; gas prices have risen much less over the last several decades than electricity;

Hangman schrieb:

And this kind of nonsense is then used to promote gas boilers.

I’m certainly not promoting, but I admit that I have been very satisfied with our gas heating system so far and still am. I also have no objection to a price increase if it happens in a moderate way.*

If we had received €25,000 (about $27,000) in subsidies back in 2013 when we built the house, we would also have a photovoltaic system on our roof now. I’m not complaining, but I do find it questionable whether every thread has to include this kind of praise.

*Anyway, as of January 1, 2022, we have a new contract, with the same provider from whom we also get our electricity. Overall, without bonuses it was still cheaper than all the offers from comparison sites like Check24. Now with roughly $11 to $16 (10 to 15€) more per month, life is still affordable.
Anyone who looks into it now will see that a flat rate of 14 cents per kWh (about 14 US cents) is completely disproportionate — we are now back to about 7.7 cents per kWh (rounded).

ypg schrieb:

If we had received €25,000 (about $27,000) in subsidies back in 2013 when we built, we would now also have a photovoltaic system on our roof.

Photovoltaic systems are still subsidized at more than 100%. This support is called a "feed-in tariff." Installed in 2013, the system would now be paid off and generating a good profit.

Sorry, back to the topic.

konibar schrieb:

It's probably propane/butane?!?

I was surprised that autogas (=propane) has only increased by about 40%.
Compared to the sometimes cited increases of 150% for town gas, that's practically a bargain.

Yes, that’s possible. It’s basically what is known as liquefied petroleum gas.

So far, our utility provider—the municipal utilities of Ratzeburg, Mölln, and Oldesloe—has remained quiet. I expect something to happen around April 1st, when the second year ends and the fixed price period expires. We’ll see. Up to now, it has been a very fair contract relationship. It doesn’t have to be the cheapest, but the gas must be of good, clear quality, smile … or it must be cost-effective over the years. Because switching suppliers annoys me. Always this unrest in everything.

Price jumps are unpleasant for many. I remember that during the oil crisis, my parents lowered the room temperature. Today, we are very focused on energy saving, but always without losing comfort or changing habits. This will have to change for some people. For many households, the cost increases are noticeably significant.

This trend will continue because there is a paradigm shift underway, which charges climate costs to the polluters instead of, as before, first ignoring them and then socializing them. I agree with this principle, but now the hardships this causes for many people need to be socialized—in other words, support must be directed accordingly.