Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

We are among those who, quite strangely, made a financing "in the middle" of the crisis.
We negotiated the fixed contract at the beginning of the year, and the financing is from mid-April.
I still remember we were visiting family here, doing some renovations in the old house for moving in during the summer, and I had an online appointment for financing advice exactly in the week before Easter. The gentleman from Interhyp explained that many banks had already increased rates and that Ing would also make a jump from 0.33% directly after Easter. We could still get 2.54% if we had everything on his desk by Thursday at 4 p.m. So, armed only with a work laptop and a phone, we set about gathering all the documents. My family only half understood the fuss; my mom is always skeptical when someone pressures like that because of "time," but my gut feeling said "better do it – it can't hurt."
We managed to get everything through the door that Thursday, and ING accepted. In the weeks that followed, we had more talks and alternative models – but purely because of the higher interest costs, which were already between 2.7-2.9% at all banks, none was more attractive than the first.

Back in April, when the contract from ING arrived, we had a bit of a surprised look because of the "high interest rates" compared to our financing from 2020. Even the family pitied us a little.
Today, half a year later, I am extremely glad that everything went the way it did. At today's interest rates, our financing would be more than €700 more expensive per month, and we would not build the house in this form/size.

And today we received a letter saying that our gas price is DROPPING. Yes, you read that right. We are still under price lock, now benefiting from the lower VAT, etc. Still, the fact is that our price has actually gone down.

Crazy. I've only had this for a year, so it doesn't affect me too much, but as a current oil customer, I feel a bit ripped off. In December, gas installment payments will be covered, the gas price brake comes – and people who currently pay 400-500€ / month for heating oil in old houses are just left out in the cold.

But then they have radiant heat throughout the whole house, right?

In our area, there is a pellet plant... Waste from a sawmill, beetle-infested wood, etc. is processed there... So you know people who work there... The ton of pellets costs about €30 to produce... That hasn't changed, the guys say

And today we received a letter saying that our gas price is FALLING. Yes, you read that right. We are still under the fixed price period, now benefiting from the lower VAT, etc. Nevertheless, it is indeed the case that our price has actually decreased.

Same situation here, even without a fixed price period.

At the end of 2021, we had an offer for a fixed price until the end of 2022, but we missed securing it. So far, there has only been one increase letter all year, and that was due to the gas levy, which no longer applies. Our kWh price is just under 6 cents and the basic supply is below 9 cents (both gross). Now the reduction of VAT. The eco-electricity price has also not been increased at all so far; we continue to pay 24.4ct/kWh.

Our municipal utilities seem to be well positioned long-term and ecologically, with biogas plants and lots of hydropower. Let’s see what next year brings – this year, increases are off the table for now.

We are happy because we currently have to heat both a >100sqm uninsulated old building apartment with 3m ceiling height and our renovation house with 190sqm living space and 2 boilers.

With us, the gas price is also falling again. From October, we have just under 20ct/kWh and now it is dropping to 15ct/kWh. It affects me less at the moment since we are currently only heating WW with gas and thus only need 10-12m³ per month.

As long as the temperatures are mild, we manage to heat only with the fireplace. Whether that will still work when it gets really cold (well below 0) we will test.

We haven't turned on the heating at all yet. In the living room, it was 18 degrees yesterday when we came back from vacation. I can live with that, I bought us wool socks and polar fleece jackets and took out the warm blankets. But I think by mid-November we will have to turn it on, because we have children too and I don't really want less than 18° in the children's room during the day for a long time. They already freeze half the day at school.

Our gas price is now just over 6ct/kwh, unfortunately the price lock ends at the end of the year. I was the one who opposed the increase, so that worked out and by chance it is even getting cheaper for the time being. We still have the electricity price lock until the end of 2023. With a bit of luck, we'll get through the crisis relatively unscathed. The gas price has been calming down again for weeks.