Agreement on heat planning? FDP politician speaks of “false report”

The traffic light coalition is said to have agreed in principle on a law for municipal heating plans. But the FDP has serious doubts about this. FDP ranks have doubts about the agreement in principle for a law on municipal heating planning reported by Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD). “To be honest, I think that’s a false report. I don’t know that,” said FDP financial politician Frank Schäffler on Wednesday to the Welt news channel. In terms of content, he sharply criticized the planned law: it was “unfeasible”. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Construction said on Tuesday evening that the previous “dispatch objection” within the federal government had been lifted. This is the start of the consultations with the federal states and associations. You can read more about this here. Schäffler, on the other hand, emphasized that there was still no cabinet decision. “That means we’re still at the very beginning.”Schäffler: “It’s a bureaucratic monster” The plans for municipal heating planning are closely linked to the controversial Building Energy Act (GEG). Geywitz and Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) are striving to determine a large amount of data on the energy consumption of individual buildings in municipalities in order to be able to set up a climate-neutral heat supply on this basis. Large cities should submit municipal heating plans by the end of 2026, smaller cities and districts by the end of 2028. Schäffler told Welt that he thought the law was just as badly done “as the Building Energy Act, because it’s a bureaucratic monster”. The municipalities do not have the personnel capacity to implement it. SPD MP: “We must not lose any time” Criticism also comes from the German Association of Towns and Municipalities. “Municipal interests must be given more consideration in the legislative process,” said the association’s general manager, Gerd Landsberg, of the “Bild”. The municipalities would also need more time to implement it. It is currently planned that cities with 100,000 or more residents should draw up an inventory by the end of 2026. Cities and districts with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants still have until 2028. The SPD MP Bernhard Daldrup, on the other hand, insisted on a speedy conclusion of the legislative process. “We mustn’t waste any time in heat planning,” he explained. “People need planning security for their heating replacement and heat supply.” The law should come into force together with the GEG 2024.