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Germans have faced an 82% increase in heating costs since 2021, when Germany decided to sever ties with Russia following a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The German Association of Property Managers predicts that heating a 70 square meter apartment with gas in 2025 will cost €1,180 per year, an increase of 15% compared to the previous year.
Heating costs have reached record levels over the past four years, increasing by a cumulative 82% since 2021, according to the company Tekem, which analyzed data from 100,000 residential buildings.
Fernando, 42, who lives in Berlin, illustrates this reality. His monthly heating bill increased from €140 to €390, representing an average annual increase of around 30%.
In Germany, heating costs are usually included in the rent through a monthly advance payment that is adjusted at the end of the month. This system has resulted in unpleasant surprises for many tenants, who are facing increasingly expensive adjustment bills.
According to Eurostat, 13% of German households currently spend more than 40% of their income on housing, which is 5 percentage points above the European average and second only to Denmark.
From Russian pipelines to Norwegian gas: a costly transition
The energy crisis and the resulting rise in heating costs are mainly due to Germany’s forced switch of energy suppliers. Before the Ukraine war, Russia supplied 55% of Germany’s gas imports in 2020, mainly via pipelines that ensure a stable and affordable supply.
“Gas has become more expensive… (because) previously it was mainly supplied through pipelines, which then became a crisis situation,” said energy economist Andreas Fischer from the German Institute for Economic Research (IW).
Currently, Norway is Germany’s main supplier, accounting for 48% of gas imports in 2024, followed by the Netherlands (25%) and Belgium (18%).
This transition is proving to be more costly, not only because of new supply routes, but also because gas currently arrives in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG), a more expensive alternative compared to pipeline transport.
Fischer remains pessimistic about the immediate future and does not expect heating costs to become cheaper in Germany in the short term, despite government efforts to promote renewable energy. The majority of German households still rely on gas for heating, making them vulnerable to global gas price fluctuations.