Germans turning to wood to heat their homes

By Salman Ahmed

BERLIN (AA) - There's a run on wood these days in Germany, with suppliers across the country reporting a surge in sales as heating costs soar due to skyrocketing gas and electricity prices.

In recent years, roughly half of Germany’s homes were heated with natural gas and another 25% used heating oil, while less than 6% used firewood.

But now suppliers of the raw material are struggling to keep up, leading to a scarcity of firewood. Earlier this summer, Germany’s Federal Firewood Association said the market was all out of wood.

Heike, who lives with her young family in Berlin, has also switched to wood for heating this winter.

Using gas is not economically efficient anymore, as prices have almost doubled for many across the country.

Heike says she has seen a rise in the number of people using wood pellets for heating.

"I would say alternative heating systems are getting more and more popular right now, which could also mean going back to wood, which is some sort of source that is growing and growing. And even if you take it out of the woods, it will regrow. So therefore, I think it could be an alternative."

Firewood is one backup plan in case Germany runs out of gas in the winter. Already, there are fears that gas will be rationed for industrial use in the winter.

Demand is so high that most suppliers stopped taking orders in July for the rest of the year. Some are trying to line up deliveries for next winter even as the price of wood has also doubled but remains well below that of gas or electric heating systems.

As wood supply tightens, some people are turning to forests and woods near their homes, says Heike.

"I have already seen people going into the woods and chopping wood there to heat their homes. I think this is what will be our future or at least the near future because we don't know how long this crisis will go on and if the heating system will be changed then. But also getting newer heating systems right now is really hard because nobody could deliver anything."

As European gas storage fills up, prices continue to drop on the spot market, but German consumers are not benefiting from the cheaper prices.

Gas was being traded at €350 ($348.50) per megawatt-hour in August on the Dutch TTF exchange, but it dropped to around €92/MWh on Tuesday, still more than twice as high as last year.

Only new customers will have a chance to benefit from the current drop in prices, according to market experts. Existing and basic supply customers cannot expect falling prices.

For consumers in Germany, the struggle is real, and many are now getting ready for what will be a cold dark winter.

"I've heard from lots of friends who are struggling with the same problem. Some of them are happy that they have an oven which they could use, while others are not and they simply don’t know how to manage the whole winter with the system they are using. It's really a big struggle for all of us, and we don't know how the winter will be. It will be hard time I guess," Heike added.