Private households in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia saved more energy than the national average

Private households in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia have saved more energy last year than the national average, according to projections. While the heating energy demand adjusted for the factor outside temperature fell nationwide by 5 percent, it was Thuringia 7 percent, according to the "Heat Monitor" published on Wednesday by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin. In Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt was consumed in each case 5.5 percent less energy than in the year before.

The basis is data from the real estate service provider Ista. For the study the heating energy accounts of country widely 150,000 two and multi-family houses with approximately one million dwellings were evaluated. The data refer to an extrapolation to 300,000 buildings, since at the time of the survey not all data were available.

The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, as a result of which energy prices shot up, began on February 24, 2022. Accordingly, citizens in Germany did not save more gas, oil and electricity until the end of 2022.

In Saxony, heating energy prices rose last year by 17 percent, in Thuringia by 21 percent and in Saxony-Anhalt and 29 percent. The national average was also 29 percent, according to the data. Even though prices in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt rose comparatively little last year, more energy was saved there than in the national average. According to the report, regional differences may also be related to the energy efficiency of buildings or different levels of motivation to save energy.