The Danish District Heating Association (Dansk Fjernvarme) has said the government’s new energy strategy will increase residential heating costs by up to DKK 4800 per year.
Dansk Fjernvarme said households which get their power and heat from smaller plants will be especially affected, and that around 1400 households could pay up to DKK 10,000 in additional heating costs.
The government’s new energy strategy, presented last week, aims to cut home energy costs by DK2800 per year, as well as saving the government DKK 5.9-7 billion by 2025 through a variety of optimization measures.
The strategy is expected to affect over 200,000 households, especially in the countryside and in Jutland province, where the cost of heating is the nation’s highest.
In an interview with the Copenhagen Post, Brian Vad Mathiesen, a professor of energy planning at Aalborg University, said he agreed with Dansk Fjernvarme’s assessment.
He said the government’s plan ‘will not help to change the situation for this group of district heating customers,’ adding that the plan counts on smaller district heating plants installing efficiency upgrades, which they may not be able to afford.