In the course of the gas shortage, the prices for heating are also exploding: this poses enormous challenges for many people, because even before the crisis they hardly had enough money to heat their houses and apartments adequately. Single parents and those living alone are particularly affected.
Even before the current energy price crisis, many people in Europe did not have enough money to heat their homes adequately. According to the Federal Statistical Office, this affected around 2.6 million people in Germany last year who, according to their own assessment, could not keep their house or apartment adequately warm for financial reasons. That corresponded to 3.2 percent of the population.
These numbers are well below the EU average: in the European Union (EU), around 6.9 percent of the population was not financially able to keep their homes warm enough last year. The number of people who cannot heat their homes sufficiently is particularly high in Bulgaria: According to Eurostat, almost a quarter of the people there (23.7 percent) were unable to do so in 2021. This also applies to 17.5 percent of people in Greece and 14.2 percent of Spaniards. In Finland, on the other hand, only 1.3 percent of people are cold at home.
People living alone in Germany were affected more often than average: around 4.3 percent of them were unable to heat their homes adequately due to lack of money, according to the statistics office. For people in single-parent households, the proportion is slightly higher at 4.7 percent. Community statistics on income and living conditions have been collected in the EU since 2020. It is intended to provide indications of a risk of poverty. In Germany, the questions about heating, holidays or wholesome meals are part of the representative microcensus.
The Institute for Macroeconomics and Business Cycle Research (IMK), which is close to the trade unions, is calling for a state relief policy because of the above-average burden on poorer households as a result of the energy crisis. The measures taken by the federal government went “largely in the right direction”. For example, the €300 energy price lump sum – which workers received in September and will be paid to retirees and other groups in December – will benefit lower-income households in particular, as it is taxable.
However, the percentage assumption of heating costs based on normal consumption by the state, as proposed with the gas price brake, has one disadvantage: households with high consumption and high heating bills would be more relieved when calculated in euros than those with low consumption. If the relief is granted without an upper limit, owners of large luxury properties will receive relief amounts that, in extreme cases, could be many times higher than the average, according to the IMK experts.