Heating Grant Calculation 2026: How Heizrechnen Works

Every legal value and every figure used by the calculators sits in one parameter file, read on 19 October 2026. Calculators and pages read only from that file; a change is made in one place and every page follows.

Grant

The basis is the federal efficient buildings funding guideline for individual measures (BEG EM) of 17 August 2026 (Federal Gazette of 27 August 2026), which applies to applications from 21 July 2026, plus the bank’s information sheet, edition 09/2026. For applications up to 20 July 2026 the calculator uses the guideline of 21 December 2023: 30 % basic grant, 20 % climate bonus, 5 % efficiency bonus, 30 % income bonus up to €40,000, ceiling 70 %, cap €30,000.

The method follows the bank’s worked examples. First the building’s cap (€28,000 for the first home when applying by 31 January 2027, €15,000 for homes two to six, €8,000 from the seventh). The 30 % basic grant applies to the whole building’s eligible costs. Bonuses apply only to the share of the home the owner lives in: split equally in a house with several homes, by ownership share in an owners’ association, at most the cap divided by the number of homes. That home’s total rate is capped at 70 %, or 80 % for taxable income up to €30,000 (after the family allowance).

Climate speed bonus by application date: 21 July 2026: 16 % · 1 February 2027: 12 % · 1 August 2027: 8 % · 1 February 2028: 4 % · 1 August 2028: 0 %. It applies to oil, coal, night storage and gas flat heaters of any age and to gas and biomass boilers aged 20 years or more. Cap for the first home: 21 July 2026: €28,000 · 1 February 2027: €27,250 · 1 August 2027: €26,500 · 1 February 2028: €25,750 · 1 August 2028: €25,000 · 1 February 2029: €24,250 · 1 August 2029: €23,500 · 1 February 2030: €22,750 · 1 August 2030: €22,000. Income bonus: 40 % up to €30,000, 30 % up to €40,000, 10 % up to €50,000; €10,000 is deducted once if at least one child under 18 lives with you.

From the first quarter of 2027 the guideline sets 15 % basic grant for heat pumps plus a 15 % value-added bonus if made in the EU. As the start date is missing, the calculator keeps today’s rate during Q1 2027 and flags the result as uncertain for units not made in the EU; from 1 April 2027 it applies the new rates.

Heat demand and climate

Without measured consumption: living space times the midpoint of the efficiency class in Annex 10 of the Building Modernisation Act (final energy), times a boiler efficiency of 86.6 %. Those class values refer to a reference climate. For the state, the space heating share is scaled by the ratio of the state’s G20/15 degree days to the Potsdam station (3,236 Kd); hot water (19 % of heat according to Fraunhofer ISE) stays the same. Degree days are 2021-2025 averages of the German Weather Service’s monthly VDI 3807 values, averaged per state over one to four city stations; they range from 2,917 to 3,475 Kd. Rural and higher places are colder.

With measured consumption: gas in kWh from the bill (gross calorific value) times 0.903 to net calorific value, heating oil at 10.05 kWh per litre (from the EBeV 2030 factors), each times the boiler efficiency.

Running costs

Heat pump: heat divided by the seasonal performance factor; the default is the mean measured in older homes, 3.4 for air and 4.3 for ground source (Fraunhofer ISE, WP-QS project). Prices: gas 11.58 ct/kWh and household electricity 37.97 ct/kWh in the first half of 2026 (Federal Statistical Office, average including standing charge), heat pump electricity 27.44 ct/kWh with a separate meter and 31.70 ct/kWh on a shared meter on 1 April 2025 (Federal Network Agency, monitoring report 2025; before the lower 2026 grid fees, so probably high), heating oil €118.68 per 100 litres on average over the twelve months to 12 October 2026, latest €169.81 (European Commission Weekly Oil Bulletin). There is no official average price for district heating; the calculator only uses your own.

Payback: your share after the grant minus the cost of an alternative you enter, divided by the saving a year. No interest, no price changes, no maintenance.

CO₂

Emission factors from Annex 2 of the EBeV 2030: heating oil 2.676 kg CO₂ per litre, natural gas 0.1814 kg per kWh on the gas bill. 2026 price: corridor €55 to €65 per tonne (section 10 BEHG), average auction price to August €65. 2027: the €55 to €65 corridor has been passed by the Bundestag but not promulgated; the calculator shows it as “passed, not in force”. From 2028 it only runs scenarios you choose. Split between tenant and landlord by the CO2KostAufG tier table, section 8 (non-residential), section 9 (halving) and section 5a (new gas and oil boilers split in half from 2028).

Tests before every release

The bank’s worked examples on its product page: house with a granny flat, an owners’ association with seven flats and three additional applications, a split air conditioner in a flat, the 80 percent maximum.
Every step of the climate bonus and the cap on the date and the day before, the income limits with and without the family allowance, the old guideline.
CO₂ factors, every boundary of the tier table, halving under section 9, running costs and climate factor for all 16 states.

What the calculators cannot do

Check whether your unit qualifies: the heat pump must be on the BAFA list, reach a seasonal performance factor of at least 3.0 and be quiet enough.
Include municipal or state schemes; they change often and some exclude the federal bonuses.
Replace a quote: you enter the cost yourself. We do not refer installers or collect enquiries.
Personal advice: for that there are energy advisers on the federal expert list and the consumer advice centres (Verbraucherzentralen).

Updates

Full review at least every 12 months, plus on each date the guideline changes (1 February and 1 August), after each energy price release by the Federal Statistical Office and as soon as the Q1 2027 start date or the 2027 BEHG is promulgated. Report errors to kontakt@heizrechnen.de. See the editorial policy.

How we calculate