On August 26, 2026, Germany's Federal Cabinet adopted the key points (Eckpunkte) of a Heating Grid Package (Wärmenetzpaket) introduced by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), opening the legislative path for a new Heating Grid Law (Wärmenetzgesetz). The future law will consolidate three instruments that today govern district heating supply, metering and billing, the AVB-Fernwärmeverordnung (AVBFernwärmeV), the FFVAV, and the heat-supply provisions of the Civil Code (BGB) and the Wärmelieferverordnung (WärmeLV), into a single statute.
The package reshapes how district heating (Fernwärme) utilities set and justify prices, how landlords pass heating-investment costs to tenants, and when customers can terminate or scale their contracts. It also creates a mandatory federal price-transparency platform and an ex-post price-oversight mechanism at a federal authority. For Stadtwerke, the large heat-network operators and housing companies, the Eckpunkte are the drafting baseline: the government bill (Regierungsentwurf) that follows will lock these choices in. The BMWE press release and the published Eckpunkte document (PDF) set out the detail.
What changes for district heating pricing and price clauses?
The existing cost-index-based price-adjustment clauses stay, but suppliers gain a new clause tied to actual costs rather than a cost index, and gas exchange indices are excluded from the market element. Utilities also receive an explicit legal basis to adjust prices when they invest in decarbonisation or in network expansion that serves decarbonisation, which is the lever the Eckpunkte give operators to finance the heat transition.
The trade-off is transparency and oversight. Prices, tariff structures and structural parameters must be published on a mandatory federal price-transparency platform and updated at least once a year, and a federal authority will review prices ex-post for appropriateness, benchmarked against structurally comparable operators. Suppliers can alternatively seek pre-approval of price structures or changes for planned investments or network expansion. The platform also fulfils the EU transparency requirements for heating networks and sharpens evaluation of the federal BEW subsidy scheme (Bundesförderung effiziente Wärmenetze); existing reporting duties are to be consolidated or dropped to keep the burden down.
How does the package change tenant cost pass-through and network densification?
The cost-neutrality rule (Kostenneutralitätsgebot) in the BGB and WärmeLV is relaxed. When a landlord or third party makes a major investment in the heating system, connecting the building to a heating network or installing a new system, an additional tenant burden of up to EUR 0.50 per square metre per month becomes permissible. The rule's scope is extended to self-supplying tenants, notably those on gas floor-heating units (Gasetagenheizungen), so landlords can legally switch them to district heating.
The stated aim is densification: more connected buildings spread fixed costs and lower the per-customer price of district heat. The Cabinet frames the tenant burden as the price of unlocking that conversion at scale.
When can customers terminate or adjust their heat supply contracts?
The previously unconditional and unlimited right of customers to adjust their contracted heat-output capacity (Leistungsanpassungsrecht) becomes conditional. After an energy consultation, customers may reduce capacity where efficiency measures have been implemented, where renewable energy is used, or where the connection is over-dimensioned, with special rules to protect small networks.
The special termination right (Sonderkündigungsrecht) is narrowed to cases where the heating network is not yet sufficiently decarbonised. In return, the utility obtains a claim to reimbursement of the customer-specific investments made in the district heating connection. A new industry-specific arbitration body (Schlichtungsstelle) under the BMWE will resolve disputes over connection, supply, metering and output adjustment once the new framework enters into force, and BMWE will run a structured stakeholder dialogue to set it up.
What should exposed actors do before the Regierungsentwurf lands?
The Eckpunkte are a Cabinet-level policy decision, not a draft law: the binding rules arrive with the Regierungsentwurf and the subsequent parliamentary procedure, Bundestag readings then Bundesrat. The measures below are the negotiating baseline, not final text.
| Rule | Before | After (Eckpunkte) |
|---|---|---|
| Price-adjustment clause | Cost-index based | Cost-index retained plus an actual-cost option; gas indices excluded in the market element |
| Price transparency | No central platform | Mandatory federal platform, annual update |
| Price oversight | None | Ex-post review at a federal authority; optional pre-approval |
| Tenant cost neutrality | Strict, no extra burden | Up to EUR 0.50/qm for major heating investment; extended to self-supplying tenants |
| Output adjustment (Leistungsanpassung) | Unconditional, unlimited | Conditional on efficiency, renewables or over-dimensioning, post-consultation |
| Special termination | Broad | Only where the network is insufficiently decarbonised; supplier reimbursed for connection investment |
| Dispute resolution | General | Industry-specific Schlichtungsstelle under BMWE |
District heating utilities and housing companies should now re-run internal models of price-adjustment clauses against the actual-cost option and the end of gas-index references, prepare the data pipelines needed for the platform's annual publication, and re-examine standard contracts for the narrowed termination and output-adjustment rights. Landlords should model the EUR 0.50/qm pass-through against renovation economics.
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Check whether your portfolio holds AVBFernwärmeV contracts due for renewal, map the affected price clauses, and brief your regulatory, pricing and housing teams ahead of the Regierungsentwurf. Continuous, per-jurisdiction monitoring surfaces this kind of change the moment it publishes, which is how Obsidian tracks German heat-network regulation from Cabinet key points through to entry into force.
