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Did the municipal utilities take too much money from their district heating customers? Martin Powierski is convinced that things should have been different in 2021. © Nougrigat
A group of Lüdenscheid residents sees a problem with the CO₂ tax. They believe that as district heating users they have to pay the CO₂ price unfairly
Lüdenscheid – The CO₂ tax has been in place in Germany since January 1, 2021. It is intended to help reduce CO₂ emissions in Germany by 55 percent by 2030. For this reason, a CO₂ tax was introduced that must be paid when heating with oil or gas – and also when refueling. The German Emissions Trading Authority estimates the revenue in 2023 at around 18.4 billion euros.
Martin Powierski has serious doubts as to whether everything was above board for district heating users in Lüdenscheid when the CO₂ price was introduced in January 2021. Powierski accuses the Lüdenscheid municipal utilities of collecting money from the CO₂ price between January and September 2021 that they should not have taken. The municipal utilities deny this accusation. However, Powierski has been encouraged by the Association of Energy Consumers and the Federal Statistical Office that he is in the right. A whole group of citizens have now joined forces at Wehberg to lodge a price objection against the payments from 2021 – just in time, because such an objection must be made within three years.
Martin Powierski and his colleagues would also take legal action – but are still hoping that the municipal utility will give in and find an out-of-court solution. “That is the goal,” says the Lüdenscheid resident, who has therefore now informed the members of the city council who sit on the municipal utility’s administrative board about the issue, along with extensive figures.
Introduction of CO₂ price: district heating customers demand money back
The topic is not entirely straightforward. The district heating price is determined using a price adjustment clause. The natural gas price is included in the energy price with the long series R633. Since January 1, 2021, according to an explanation from the Federal Statistical Office, the CO2 price according to the Fuel Emissions Trading Act (BEHG) has been included in the long series R633 via its index value.
The CO2 price is therefore not a tax that can be charged additionally if the long series R633 is used to calculate the labor price. But that is exactly what the municipal utilities did for the first nine months of 2021, according to Powierski. They also charged customers a CO2 price according to the BEHG for every kilowatt hour of heating water used. The index changes only took effect from October onwards – the CO2 price was also billed using the long series. “One characteristic of a price adjustment clause is that index changes of any kind, such as the CO2 price in the index or index changes due to fluctuating natural gas purchase prices, are only reflected in the energy price at a later date,” explains Powierski, “for example, the natural gas price index from July to December 2020 is used to calculate the energy price from April 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021, and the natural gas index from January to June 2021 is used for the energy price from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.”
Powierski has calculated that the municipal utility’s actions have resulted in a gross price increase of 18.3 percent for the price of electricity. “The municipal utility is refusing to refund the overcharged amount,” he states.
District heating customers: CO₂ tax not justified
The attached reply from the municipal utilities states: “In the period from January to September 2021, index values were used without a CO₂ cost burden. For this purpose, we used an index value before January 1, 2021. The BEHG only applies from January 1, 2021. With effect from January 1, 2021, the former supplier Fernwärmeversorgung Niederrhein GmbH introduced the CO₂ price when the BEHG came into force. We wanted to avoid a double burden due to CO₂ costs. That is why we made an index change on October 1, 2021.” It goes on to say that the municipal utilities could not comply with the reimbursement of the CO₂ costs.
Powierski is also critical of the index change in October 2021. “The price adjustment clause of October 1, 2021 was set unilaterally by the municipal utilities. However, there is no reason for a unilateral change,” he says, “there has been no change in energy sources, nor has an index been eliminated. This view is also held by the lawyers of the Association of Energy Consumers. As of October 1, 2021, CO₂ pricing is reflected in the working price with the index R633. There is no additional CO₂ price to be paid for the heat output (heating water). In the end, these facts mean that the price adjustment clause from December 31, 2020 is valid until today. In the Edingen-Neckarhausen district heating network, billing is still carried out using the R633 without an additional CO₂ price. This fact shows that there was no inevitability for a change in the reference values from R633 to R650.”
CO₂ price: It’s a six-figure sum
For Powierski himself, the reimbursement amount (88.87 euros) is a manageable one. However, he has also calculated the overpaid costs for a condominium complex with 34 residential units. The overcharged amount amounts to 26,484.94 euros with double the CO2 price until September 2021 and one-sided, factually incorrect justification for changing the references for the price adjustment clause from October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2023.
Across the entire district, customers are expected to be charged a six-figure sum without justification. In short, a lot of money is at stake. Powierski’s group has set up an email address (wehberg-fernwaerme@online.de) for district heating customers who would like to take advantage of the help provided by the group. Anyone who contacts the group will be provided with comprehensive information by email.
