To-Do square meters and pro rata time

In principle, billing is based on consumption. For this purpose, suitable meters and meter readings must be available for all relevant units. This variant complies with the standard case of the Heating Costs Ordinance and ensures that individual heating and hot water consumption is taken into account in the operating cost statement.

However, if there are no usable consumption values for at least one unit, billing can instead be based on square metres and on a pro-rata basis.

If you select the "Square metres and pro-rata" option, the heating and hot water costs will not be distributed based on individual meter readings.

Instead, Immodio calculates the cost share of each unit using the cost share specified in the unit and the respective period of use in the billing period. This means that the actual consumption values of the individual units are not taken into account for the cost distribution and units with a larger area automatically bear a correspondingly higher cost share.

In the event of a change of tenant within the billing period, the period of use is taken into account on a pro rata basis.

When does this option make sense?

This option can be useful if consumption-based billing is not possible or not necessary in a specific case. This can be the case, for example, if:

• there is a legal exemption from consumption-based heating cost billing for the building,

• there are no suitable recording devices available and the billing cannot therefore be prepared according to actual consumption,

• several consumption values could not be recorded properly and no reliable consumption-based distribution is possible,

• the Heating Costs Ordinance is not applicable or only applicable to a limited extent in the specific building,

• or billing according to consumption cannot be made for other legally recognised reasons.

The reasons should be documented in a comprehensible way so that the bill can be checked and explained later.

When should this option not be chosen?

Do not select this option if complete and usable meter readings or consumption values are available for all units. In this case, billing should always be based on consumption.

If only individual meter readings are missing, you can first check whether the missing values can be replaced or estimated according to the legal requirements, e.g. on the basis of previous consumption values, comparable rooms or average consumption.

Tenant's right to reduce

If, contrary to the Heating Costs Ordinance pursuant to Section 12 (1), heating or hot water costs are not billed according to consumption and no exceptional or special case applies, the tenant has the right to reduce the share attributable to him by 15 %.

The right to reduce does not affect the entire utility bill, but the affected portion of the heating or hot water costs, which, contrary to the Heating Costs Ordinance, was not billed on the basis of consumption.

A. Special and exceptional cases

Billing by square metre may be appropriate if there is no obligation to bill based on consumption in the specific case or if there is a statutory exception or special case.

It is important to note that the Heating Costs Ordinance is based on consumption-based billing. Full billing by area is therefore not the normal case, but can only be considered in certain cases.

This can be particularly relevant in the following cases:

Buildings with a maximum of two apartments, one of which is occupied by the landlord himself

An important special regulation concerns buildings with no more than two apartments, one of which is occupied by the landlord himself.

In this case, landlords and tenants can make agreements that deviate from the requirements of the Heating Costs Ordinance. This makes it possible, for example, to agree that heating and hot water costs are not distributed according to consumption, but according to living space or another comprehensible key.

Case in point:

A two-family house has two apartments. The landlord himself lives on the ground floor, the apartment on the upper floor is rented. The rental agreement stipulates that the heating costs are billed according to the living space.

However, the following is not sufficient:

• The building has two apartments, but the landlord does not live in the house himself.

• The building has three or more units (although the landlord himself lives in the house).

• There is no clear contractual provision for deviating billing.

Important: This special regulation does not apply solely because a building is small. The decisive factor is that there are no more than two apartments and that the landlord lives in one of them himself.

Very low heating demand

According to § 11 of the Heating Costs Ordinance, certain provisions are not to be applied to rooms in buildings that have a heating demand of less than 15 kWh/(m²·a).

This applies in particular to very energy-efficient buildings, especially buildings to passive house standard. In such buildings, the influence of individual heating behaviour on the overall costs is often significantly lower than in normal existing buildings.

Case in point:

A very well insulated apartment building meets a heating demand of less than 15 kWh according to energy verification/(m²·a). An exemption from consumption-based billing can therefore be considered for heating costs.

Important: The low heating demand should be verifiable, e.g. by energy requirement calculation, energy certificate or corresponding planning documents.

Consumption recording or cost allocation is not possible or disproportionately expensive

An exception may exist if the installation of recording devices, the recording of heat consumption or the distribution of costs would not be possible or would only be possible at disproportionately high costs.

According to the Heating Costs Ordinance, disproportionately high costs exist if the costs cannot be generated through savings, which are usually achieved within ten years.

Typical cases can be:

• structural conditions that make meaningful recording impossible,

• technical features of the heating system,

• or exceptionally high costs for metering equipment and billing in relation to the expected savings.

• Consumption recording would only be possible with considerable interventions in the building fabric.

Important: This exceptional case should be documented particularly carefully. If possible, you should keep documents that show why consumption recording is not possible or economically disproportionate.

Suitable evidence can be, for example:

• Opinion of a specialist company,

• Offers for measuring equipment and conversion,

• technical description of the heating system,

• Calculation of projected costs and savings,

• or a professional assessment of the metering service provider.

Old buildings before 1 July 1981 where users cannot influence heat consumption

An exception may also apply to rooms which were ready for occupancy before 1 July 1981 and in which the user cannot influence the heat consumption.

This refers to cases in which the tenant has practically no possibility of controlling his own heat consumption, or there are no adjustable radiators or no other possibility of influencing the heat consumption on the part of the user.

Typical examples:

• Radiators do not have adjustable thermostatic valves.

• Heat is dissipated via a central system without any control option on the part of the user.

• The heat supply cannot be influenced individually in the individual unit.

**Important: You should be able to document why tenants cannot influence heat consumption.

Homes and similar buildings

Section 11 of the Heating Costs Ordinance also mentions certain types of buildings for which the usual rules on consumption-based heating cost billing do not fit or only apply to a limited extent.

This includes in particular:

• Retirement homes,

• nursing homes,

• student dormitories,

• Apprentice dormitories,

• as well as comparable buildings or parts of buildings.

This refers to buildings whose use is reserved for certain groups of people and for which no usual rental contracts are regularly concluded due to the special personal circumstances.

The decisive factor is the special building and usage structure, not just the majority of residents. For example, regular apartment buildings in which mainly older people, students or trainees live are not automatically covered by this special regulation if the use of the building is not explicitly reserved for this group of people.

Certain heat sources and equipment

An exception may also be relevant for certain types of heat supply. According to § 11 of the Heating Costs Ordinance, rooms in buildings that are predominantly supplied with:

• Heat from heat recovery plants,

• Heat from solar systems,

• Heat from combined heat and power plants,

• or heat from waste heat recovery plants.

In the case of combined heat and power and waste heat, it should also be noted that the exemption is linked to the condition that the heat consumption of the building is not recorded.

Typical examples:

• A building is mainly supplied by solar thermal energy.

• A building mainly uses waste heat from a technical process.

• A building is mainly supplied by a heat recovery system.

Important for heat pumps:

Heat pumps used to be expressly mentioned in the exemption. According to the current version of the Heating Costs Ordinance, this is no longer the case.

Special transitional regulations apply to buildings with heat pumps. If the proportionate consumption of heat or hot water from heat pumps by users has not yet been recorded on 1 October 2024, the equipment for recording consumption must in principle be installed by the end of 30 September 2025.

Exemption from individual cases by the competent state office

In other individual cases, the competent authority under Land law may exempt from the requirements of the Heating Costs Ordinance.

This comes into consideration if there are special circumstances and the exemption is necessary to avoid unreasonable effort or other undue hardship.

Typical cases may include:

• exceptional structural features,

• special technical plant concepts,

• disproportionate effort despite special circumstances in individual cases,

• or hardship cases that are not sufficiently covered by the general exceptions.

Important: Such an exemption should be in writing and attached to the utility bill.

Special case: Equipment failure or other compelling reasons

A particularly important special case is equipment failure.

Typical examples:

• A heat cost allocator is defective and does not provide any usable value.

• One meter could not be read for technical reasons.

• A reading value cannot be correct for compelling physical reasons.

• Measurement data has been lost due to a device error.

A compelling reason does not exist simply because billing according to consumption is time-consuming or because consumption values were not organized in time. There must be a comprehensible reason why the proper recording was not possible.

In such cases, Section 9a of the Heating Costs Ordinance initially applies. After that, the missing consumption must be determined as a substitute. Three methods in particular can be considered for this:

• Consumption of the affected rooms in comparable previous billing periods,

• Consumption of comparable other rooms in the same billing period,

• or average consumption of the building or user group.

The consumption determined in this way is then used instead of the consumption actually recorded.

Only if the living or usable area affected by this replacement calculation exceeds more than 25% of the relevant total area are the costs to be apportioned according to the living or usable area.