Danish broadcaster DR has profiled four homeowners who heat their houses with oil, gas, a heat pump and district heating as the winter heating season begins.
In an article published on September 23, 2026, DR reported that heating systems across Denmark are being switched on again as winter approaches. The public broadcaster followed four Danes who each rely on a different heating source.
Lasse Offt’s home is one of 83,522 houses in Denmark still heated by an oil boiler, according to DR. He told the broadcaster that he does not pay a daily market price, but pays for what is in his tank. That lets him fill up when prices are low, he said, even though oil prices are high at present.
Finding cheap oil requires planning and some creativity, Offt said. As reported by DR, he looks for cheap heating oil on Facebook Marketplace from former oil boiler owners, and buys cheaper diesel in Sweden that works in his boiler. A heat pump, the alternative, could easily cost him more than DKK 100,000.
Mikkel Dencker Samson’s old gas boiler broke down shortly before the war in Ukraine began in 2022. Instead of switching systems, he installed a new gas boiler. He told DR that it takes up little space and has very low servicing costs.
Looking at the swings in electricity and gas prices in recent years, Samson said he is not ready to invest around DKK 100,000 in a heat pump. Per DR, he said the installation costs are far higher than for a gas boiler. For his house and consumption, he said, the investment would only pay off if electricity prices stayed very low.
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Heat pump and district heating
Søren Weiss Hartmann replaced his old oil boiler with a heat pump. Reliability, lower consumption and better control were decisive for him, according to DR. The outdoor unit stands about six meters from the house, with underground pipes carrying the heat indoors.
The system adjusts its output by season, turning up in winter and down in summer, DR noted. Hartmann said he does not want district heating, because he disagrees with the financial decisions of many district heating plants. He also pointed to the absence of local pollution, citing his neighbors and the environment.
For Jan Bagger Severinsen, district heating was already installed when he bought his current house, and that was an important condition for the purchase. He had spent a long time campaigning for district heating at his previous home, but that project was never realized while he lived there.
Severinsen told DR that his choice is about the climate and the burning of fossil fuels, whether oil or gas. He also expects oil and gas, as scarce resources, to become steadily more expensive. More district heating customers, he said, means more people sharing the investments and converting production to renewable energy.
