Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

I am not saying that everything has to be cushioned either. It just must not happen that someone who is rather not in need gets paid while another much more needy person gets nothing, just because they have the wrong heating. That would be socially disastrous, I fear.

Even in the KfW40 house, you should turn down the heating and turn off the lights in the evening this winter.

Nanana, don't exaggerate, I have an energy surplus in the 40+ house.
That's why I specifically built kfw40+, so that 22-23°C in winter is comfortable for the kids.
Our government should first insulate its uninsulated 'heat halls' to at least kfw40.

No one is interested in the balance sheet. What matters are the months from December to February, and you definitely don’t have a surplus then. But thanks for the statement. If there is not even consensus within Germany about the situation, how is it supposed to work across Europe?

I’m not saying everything has to be cushioned. It just must not happen that someone who is rather not in need has something paid for while another, much more needy person gets nothing just because they have the wrong heating system. I fear that would be socially fatal

The problem lies mainly in the fact that no one has a long-term plan. Since spring, politics has only reacted and hardly acted. The LNG terminals seem to be going best so far. Otherwise, industry either stops production or switches from gas to electricity and heating oil, which leads to bottlenecks in these areas. Instead of tackling the problem consistently from the start, there was initially hesitation with the claim that there was only a gas problem and not an electricity one. Regarding gas, they first wanted to practically annul all contracts, then the levy, and in the meantime, everything became obsolete due to rising prices. Now, a brake is supposed to provide relief, although no one is quite sure about its concept (one-time payment and brake from March or one-time payment and brake from January?). Due to the completely predictable substitution effects and merit order, electricity prices and the profits of certain companies have exploded; now some kind of brake is to come. In the end, it remains a squaring of the circle to reduce consumption by 20% immediately without it becoming expensive and leading to severe restrictions. Oh yes... what I forgot... a tank discount that maximizes the profits of the oil companies, a €9 ticket that finally cemented public transport in the "bad but at least cheap" corner, and an energy payment that creates a lot of bureaucracy... with the energy and the money, one could have done something far more sensible...

Roughly speaking, for me, needy are those who can no longer afford the normal shopping basket given the increased prices. No money for food, clothing, social participation.

I find fairness in this area anything but simple. And it often causes more bureaucracy and time expenditure because someone has to check the neediness. And that also costs money and time, and personnel is lacking there as well. Then the question is: Is that really cheaper? (Serious question, I really don't know.) And it is also the case that borderline cases (who just barely still receive something, who just barely receive nothing anymore) are often terribly frustrating, and those who just fall out can feel seriously disadvantaged.

I'm not a real fan of the watering can principle either; many of the measures seemed more like a temporary band-aid. I often come to the conclusion for myself that I don't want to be a politician right now ;)

Topic Construction Costs/Rising Prices:

We have just received an updated construction description for our section and also for the other construction phases in the area from our developer as part of the contract documents for our townhouse. What stands out: For all houses that were not reserved so far, some things have suddenly become chargeable special requests. So, in the first version of the construction description that we received a few months ago, for example, a garage was still included in the price for every townhouse. In the current version, it is still included for us, but for all others in the same construction phase, it is marked as "OPTION as a special request for an additional charge."

In the other construction phases it looks similar (so you can quite clearly see from the construction descriptions who reserved how early :D). Besides the garages, this concerns, for example, an additional bathroom in one phase, which has now suddenly become a special request in some houses but not in others.

So the developer has decided here, instead of raising prices, to cut back a bit on services for new customers now :O As far as I can see, the prices listed on the homepage have not changed so far. I find it commendable that they stick to the agreements with us (at least as far as I have reviewed so far. We will compare this side by side again). In the updated construction descriptions, however, this already looks a bit strange.

Edit: Some plots are anyway a bit funny in shape because they should retain access to the garage. I’m imagining now that it might be a bit funny if the garage is removed :D Example: