Energy Prices: Hardship Assistance for Households

The announced energy price assistance for households facing hardship has now begun. At the end of March 2023, the federal and state governments reached an agreement on the details and agreed on a hardship provision for private households that use non-grid-connected energy sources. What do private applicants need to keep in mind regarding this?

Background: With the Natural Gas and District Heating Price Brake Act and the Electricity Price Brake Act, the federal government has provided for further relief on natural gas, district heating, and electricity starting in January 2023. Unfortunately, in many cases, the eligibility requirements for these benefits are not met. For this reason, the federal government has announced hardship assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as for private households. Households that use heating oil, propane, coke, wood pellets, or other non-pipeline-connected fuels for heating may receive relief if they are affected by particularly sharp price increases. The following must be noted when applying:

Eligibility: Only owners or tenants of homes with heating systems that run on heating oil or are heated by other non-piped energy sources are eligible to apply. The application must be submitted by the owner. If the owner is also the landlord, they are required to declare that they will pass on the subsidy received to the tenants. The tenants, in turn, do not need to take any action.

Eligibility Period: Heating bills incurred between January 1, 2022, and December 1, 2022, may be submitted. The delivery date is decisive.

Reference price: The subsidy is calculated based on the reference price, i.e., the average procurement costs in the previous year, namely 2021. To be eligible to apply, costs in 2022 must have at least doubled compared to 2021. The reference prices for individual energy sources were determined by the federal and state governments and are published online.

Grant Amount: The relief is calculated based on the costs that exceed a doubling of the costs compared to the 2021 reference prices. Households are reimbursed 80 percent of these costs.

Help and Information: The federal government has set up a free telephone hotline regarding the energy price brakes: 0800-78 88 900. The relevant state agencies also provide information on hardship assistance and handle the application and approval process.