Alice G. greets us with a light-blue hat on her head and thick plush house boots on her feet. “Today I already turned the heating on in the morning. Usually I do it only in the afternoon,” she says and invites us into her apartment. Since 2022, G. has been suffering from Long Covid and chronic fatigue. Once she tried to return to her work as a kindergarten teacher, but she caught it again almost immediately. Since then money has been tight as well – and G. freezes in winter in her apartment.
About 5.3 million people in Germany – that is 6.3 percent of the population – according to the Federal Statistical Office in 2024 reported that they could not keep their homes adequately warm for financial reasons. “Energy poverty” is what the Öko-Institut calls it when electricity and heating costs are too high or energy efficiency is poor. In 2023, about 8.3 percent of households in Germany were affected.
There is, so far, no general, official definition of the term in Germany. The EU Energy Efficiency Directive obliges member states, however, to identify those affected by energy poverty specifically and to combat the structural problem. Support for this comes from the EU Climate Social Fund.
“I am, once again, completely exhausted,” says G., as she sits at the dining table in her two-room apartment at 1 p.m. with tea and cookies. “I’ve only showered, taken out the trash, and tidied up the sofa, that’s it,” she notes. “That’s basically nothing. But I can’t do much more.” Since leaving school and starting her training, she has always worked, she adds.
The Fear of the Heating Bill
Not even a year had passed since G. moved into the apartment in Gropiusstadt in Berlin-Neukölln when she first contracted Covid-19 at work in the kindergarten in 2022. “If I had known what lay ahead, I would have bought a better sofa,” she says today. On February 3, when it is minus 6 degrees outside her doorstep, she hardly left the house for almost a week and a half — also because she had caught influenza as well. That the weather remains consistently cold like this is also linked to climate change.
G. is therefore already worried about her next heating bill. Because she can no longer practice her profession with chronic fatigue, the 56-year-old now receives a pension that is topped up by Citizens’ Income. In fact, the social welfare office would normally also cover the heating costs. But G. cannot rely on that. She receives monthly money from four different sources. “If something changes there and I end up getting a little more money from any source, social assistance would suddenly disappear,” she says. “Then I would have to cover the heating costs myself.”
The future worries her even more. “My statutory pension is initially approved for only three years,” she says. “Who knows what comes after that.”
Rental Housing Is Often Not Energy Efficient
In fact, about 16 percent of households receiving Citizens’ Income save on heating despite the heating-cost subsidy – twice as many as in the general population, according to a study by the Paritätischer Gesamtverband. In the energy-debt counseling service of the Verbraucherzentrale in Berlin, about 35 percent of the clients are social-benefit recipients. They receive here legal and practical advice on energy bills. The topic is also what counts as “reasonable” heating costs relative to the social welfare office, says advisor Elisabeth Grauel. “We also check whether the reasonableness thresholds should be raised due to factors such as location, equipment, and the condition of the apartment.”
Katja Schuhmacher, according to, says the efficiency of buildings is one of the biggest problems of energy poverty. She is the deputy head of the Energy & Climate Protection department at the Öko-Institut and sees a clear link between climate protection and energy poverty: “Energy poverty is a structural problem, not a mere poverty problem. Climate protection means using less and more efficient energy from renewable sources. Lower energy consumption means lower costs and thus helps combat energy poverty.”
So far, however, the subsidies in Germany have been poorly structured socially because they are not linked to income, and especially renters are not reached, who are particularly affected by energy poverty. “They themselves have no say over how energy-efficient their buildings are. That makes energy poverty also a matter of justice,” adds their colleague Sibylle Braungardt.
450-Euro Back Payment
Alice G. was also stunned by her last utility bill — a 450-euro back payment was demanded. “That scared me,” she says. “I barely used the heating anyway, but now that it’s so cold, I really don’t know what to do.” In this 1970s-building, she also gets warmth from neighboring apartments, and in the living room there are heating bars that run automatically by the window. “But if you stand by the window, you can already feel a draft,” she says.
In Deutschland gibt es bislang weder eine offizielle Definition von Energiearmut noch einen Klimasozialplan.
She saves rigorously on heating as well as on hot water and electricity. “I was never someone who mindlessly wasted everything,” she says. “The climate matters to me as well.” Still, the electricity bill climbs year by year – in part because she spends more time at home due to the illness.
Energy poverty also has health consequences: cold walls and high humidity quickly lead to mold. This, in turn, can trigger respiratory problems. Children living in moldy homes have a higher risk of asthma and poorer lung function. In addition, cold temperatures negatively affect the immune system and cardiovascular diseases, especially in people with pre-existing conditions. Scientists at the University of Duisburg-Essen have found a direct link in Germany between energy poverty and poorer mental health.
However, determining an ideal room temperature is difficult. “In surveys, the temperature is deliberately left open, as it is about the subjective feeling of warmth. The perceived temperature also depends on how cold the walls are and whether there is a draft in the room. Cold walls should be avoided both because of mold risk and for comfort,” says Katja Schumacher from the Öko-Institut. Age, gender, and pre-existing conditions also play a role in how warmth is perceived. Because low temperatures affect health and development especially strongly in older people, sick people, and children, particularly infants, the WHO raises the recommended minimum temperature for these groups from 18 to 20 degrees Celsius.
Stress Without End
Alice G. no longer feels comfortable in her apartment: “Home is supposed to be a place where you recharge your batteries. But this way you become more and more depleted.” Her symptoms include, in addition to fatigue, dizziness, sleep disturbances, poor microcirculation, and pain in her thighs and hands. In the cold, her extremities hurt even more and she has less energy. “The constant cold keeps my body in a state of emergency power,” she says.
In addition, money worries and bureaucracy weigh on her: the entire last year she spent applying for pensions and social benefits. “I should actually be focusing on getting healthy. But that won’t make me better,” she says.
“Through such a complex experience of stress and overwhelm, those affected quickly feel unable to handle the situation and freeze in fear before a mountain of bureaucracy,” explains Patricia Hänel. She is a project manager at GeKo – a neighborhood health center in Neukölln that works to secure primary care across multiple levels and to reduce social inequalities. “Poorer people are often under stress due to precarious working conditions, financial distress, or unemployment and social exclusion,” she says. “On a neurobiological level, this leads to brain structures adapting to chronic stress and common illnesses becoming more frequent. There is a higher rate of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases among poorer people.” To address these connections, she asserts, primary care centers should bring together medicine, psychology, and social work more closely.
According to Öko-Institut experts Schumacher and Braungardt, expanding funding for social housing renovations and widespread energy and funding counseling could reduce energy poverty in Germany. Starting this year, EU countries can also receive funds from the Climate Social Fund for CO2-reducing measures directed at those affected by energy poverty, which was established in connection with the planned EU emissions trading for buildings and road transport set for 2028. However, countries must present a Climate Social Plan – and Germany does not have one yet.
Schumacher welcomes that the EU Energy Efficiency Directive specifically promotes tackling energy poverty. “The social component is also an important part of acceptance and participation in climate protection among the population,” she says. Braungardt adds: “Many energy-poor households see no real room for action in climate protection.” In contrast, Caritas’ energy-savings check with support services for private households can make self-efficacy tangible.
As she leaves, G. checks her thermometer one last time. “Nineteen degrees here is that all?!,” she says, shocked. “No wonder I’m always so cold. Something really needs to change.”
This text is part of a research project on climate change and health, supported by the Panter Stiftung.
