Air-water heat pump or district heating

Guess about 20 cents/kWh.

Seems low to me. But well, if it is like this as an example: Conservatively assuming an annual performance factor of 3.5 for the air-to-water heat pump means that you pay 5.7 cents per kWh of heat from the air-to-water heat pump. District heating costs 9.2 cents per kWh, delta 3.5 cents per kWh. The air-to-water heat pump is €2,800 more expensive in investment (whereas you don't yet know the installation costs for district heating), divided by the 3.5 cents per kWh = 80,000 kWh heat (not electricity!) you would have to consume for the air-to-water heat pump to be worthwhile. That might be the case after about 12 years, roughly estimated. Shorter if you also include the installation costs of district heating, longer if your electricity price is not correct. Maintenance costs and price adjustments (district heating has a monopoly – take it or leave it! How long do you have a price guarantee?) are left out. Air-to-water heat pump rather low to no maintenance, district heating I don’t know (I guess similarly low).

I actually wanted to do a calculation here before I even saw Alex's post. My calculation would have been very similar, just with fewer concrete numbers. So I completely agree with Alex here, in my opinion, the air-to-water heat pump wins.

At my brother's rental building, there was once a drastic increase in the price of district heating; you just had to swallow it and couldn't do anything. With the air-to-water heat pump, at least you can still switch providers.

What has been overlooked, however, is that district heating also arrives at this price in winter. The air-to-water heat pump may have to switch on the heating element at <-10°, which is a bit more expensive, but in my opinion, it doesn’t make a big difference in the overall calculation.

What has still been overlooked is that district heating also arrives at this price in winter. The air-to-water heat pump may have to turn on the heating element at <-10°, which is a bit more expensive, but in my opinion does not significantly affect the overall calculation.

This is already taken into account in the annual performance factor, and with 3.5 I was not being too optimistic. It's only a rough estimate anyway. With district heating, I would also have concerns about whether the power price might increase; after all, you are just a recipient of orders. On the other hand, no stress with outdoor units, and I also don't know how long the district heating station will last; the air-to-water heat pump will eventually need to be replaced, and then a new investment will be due.

Here in town, my architect reported that there are probably a few streets that were enticed during the district heating hype with free energy supply (because no one else wanted to connect). This condition still applies, even though the supplier no longer likes it that much, but the contract was apparently actually drawn up that way :) That certainly has its advantages :)