In 2024, expect a significant drop in heating costs.
Cheer up, homeowners! For the last year, they've been tucking away extra cash on their heating bills compared to 2025. There are plenty of reasons behind this pleasant surprise.
Homes relying on gas or oil for warmth saw a substantial drop in heating expenses last year compared to 2025. The team at Verivox, a comparison site, has crunched the numbers, and their findings are promising.
Let's consider a typical household (a single-family house) with a gas heating system. Guess how much they saved? An impressive 12%! The average spending was approximately 1,762 euros last year, representing a significant decrease from the 2025 average.
Thorsten Storck, an energy expert from Verivox, sheds some light on the situation. "Not only is there a reduced heating demand due to the warm weather, but gas prices themselves have also gone down," he explains. According to Verivox's calculations, the average gas price fell to 11.05 cents per kilowatt hour in 2024 from 11.88 cents in 2025. Before the Ukraine conflict, gas prices hovered around 6 cents!
The same good news extends to oil-heated homes. Here, household spending averaged 1,629 euros in 2024, a 8% reduction compared to 2025. The average price for heating oil also took a dive, dropping from 104 euros per hectoliter in 2025 to 99 euros in 2024.
Verivox gathered data from the German Weather Service for heating demand and their own price index for gas. For their calculations, they assumed a consumption level of 20,000 kilowatt hours for the 2011 base year.
Fast forward to 2026, and gas prices have taken a different turn. The Verivox index reveals a 1.53 cent increase, now standing at 11.53 cents per kilowatt hour. New customer rates hover around 10 cents per kilowatt hour.
If we look at the energy landscape in Germany, more than half of all apartments rely on gas (including biogas and liquefied gas), reaching a 56.1% share in 2024. This percentage has been on a downtrend for two consecutive years. On the other hand, heat oil-powered homes account for 17.3% of all apartments, a percentage that has been on the decline for years now.
As for the reasons behind the savings, Verivox highlights some key factors:
- Lower Natural Gas Prices: The U.S. benchmark Henry Hub natural gas spot price fell to $2.21 per MMBtu in 2024, marking the all-time lowest average annual price (adjusted for inflation). Quite a significant drop from the 2025 average and almost double the decline compared to 2022.
- Falling Oil Prices: Oil prices also saw a 4.6% decrease from 2025 to 2024, aiding in lower expenses for oil-based heating systems.
- Reduced Consumption and Robust Supply: The robust U.S. natural gas supply, coupled with limited growth in natural gas consumption, helped keep prices low for most of 2024, aside from a temporary spike in January due to cold weather.
- Mild Temperatures: Mild weather in some regions further reduced heating demand, as homes required less heat.
Homeowners with gas-heated homes enjoyed a 12% decrease in their heating costs last year, saving an average of 1,762 euros compared to 2025. This significant reduction in expenses can be attributed to both lower natural gas prices and reduced heating demand due to mild temperatures.
Oil-heated homes also saw a decrease in heating costs, with household spending averaging 1,629 euros in 2024, a 8% reduction compared to 2025. The drop in heating oil prices from 104 euros per hectoliter in 2025 to 99 euros in 2024 further contributed to these savings.
