A course center owner in West Jutland says she must close her business every winter because heating with an old oil boiler has become too expensive, and the current heat pump subsidy is too small to help her switch.
Gaby Neumann runs a course center for yoga, mindfulness and meditation in a former village school in Møborg, south of Lemvig. As DR reports, the German-born owner is in her fifth year of welcoming groups, but only during the summer half of the year.
The building is heated by an aging oil boiler in the basement. Last winter, Neumann spent about 25,000 kroner on heating oil simply to keep the rooms free of frost. With rising oil prices, she is heading toward a bill of up to 36,000 kroner.
Neumann says she would like to go green but cannot afford to scrap the oil boiler. Converting the property would likely require more than one heat pump, at a cost of between 120,000 and 170,000 kroner, or a ground source system. The current subsidy pool offers her 27,000 kroner, which she says is not enough.
Criticism of the subsidy scheme
Steffen Damsgaard, chairman of Landdistrikternes Fællesråd, calls the present arrangement unreasonable. Per DR, he argues that the first-come, first-served scheme largely rewards homeowners who already have the money to invest. He says residents of rural areas with low property values and low incomes need access to a substantially larger subsidy.
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Det Økonomiske Råd has reached a similar conclusion. Its calculations show that two out of three subsidies go to homeowners who would have bought a heat pump anyway, and that recipients are largely higher-income households with further education.
Jette Bredahl Jacobsen, an environmental economics adviser on the council, describes the scheme as comparatively expensive for society because many heat pumps would be installed regardless. She notes that a household receiving 27,000 kroner must still find at least 100,000 kroner to complete the investment.
According to Jacobsen, a new model could target support at households below a set income level. She also points to favorable loan terms for low-income homeowners. She adds that a heat pump is typically a cheaper energy source, so the switch should pay off over the long term for the individual household.
Minister working on a new model
The government platform opens the door to a new and more targeted subsidy system for replacing oil and gas boilers. Climate, Energy and Supply Minister Samira Nawa of Radikale Venstre says the government aims to direct support toward people with low incomes or low property values.
Nawa would not specify income thresholds or property values yet. She says she is working on a concrete model to assist families for whom low income is currently the obstacle, and that her main wish is to retire oil and gas boilers.
