Economy: Municipal companies warn that the traffic light heating plans will fail

According to the Association of Municipal Companies (VKU), the “heating transition” planned by the federal government by 2045 is in danger of failing and making the installation of hydrogen-powered gas heating systems from 2024 impossible, unlike planned. The “Bild” (Friday edition) said managing director Ingbert Liebing: “The rigid specifications in the current draft of the Building Energy Act (GEG) are counterproductive and have the opposite effect. We need more flexibility in the implementation and the elimination of exaggerated compensation obligations. Otherwise the government will take over If you don’t achieve your goals, the heat transition threatens to fail.”

Specifically, Liebing criticized the “rigid specifications” for the approximately 500 municipal utilities in relation to gas and district heating.

They are a “brake pad”. According to this, the suppliers must already offer 50 percent by 2030 and then 65 percent by 2035 C02-free gases such as hydrogen and have converted the gas infrastructure to 100 percent by 2035 to hydrogen. “With this tight deadline, the specifications completely ignore reality,” Liebing told the “Bild”.

Most utilities wouldn’t be able to do that any time soon. He also criticized the compensation obligations. “They mean that almost no supplier will continue to open the gas networks for alternatives because the financial risks are far too great. The same applies to district heating,” said the VKU boss of the “Bild”.

He called for “more flexibility on the way to climate neutrality, which we want to achieve”.