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Higher heating costs to affect over 200,000 Danish households

Lucíe Rychla
September 16th, 2016


This article is more than 8 years old.

Residents in Jutland will particularly notice the effects of the new governmental strategy

The Danish government yesterday presented a new energy-supply strategy aiming to reduce households’ utility expenses by 2,800 kroner per year and simultaneously save the state 5.9 billion kroner by 2025.

However, Dansk Fjernvarme (the district heating association) argues the changes will lead to a price increase of up to 4,800 kroner annually – especially for households that get energy from small power plants.

Over 200,000 households, particularly in the countryside, will be affected by the new policy that comes into force in 2019.

According to Dansk Fjernvarme, the average Danish family currently spends 14,179 kroner on heating per year and this amount will increase to 18,979 kroner in 2019.

READ MORE: Heating bills for old homes much higher

No reduced costs for Jutlanders
Even with the projected savings of 2,800 kroner in 2025, the heating bill will go up by 2,000 kroner, claims Dansk Fjernvarme.

Furthermore, the district heating association estimates that about 1,400 households will end up paying as much as 10,000 kroner more.

Many of these are located in Jutland, where heating costs are already higher than the national annual average.

Brian Vad Mathiesen, a professor of energy planning at Aalborg University, agrees the 200,000 households will not experience the government’s desired effects of the new strategy.

“The energy-supply plan and the price ceiling will not help to change the situation for this group of district heating customers,” Mathiesen told DR.

The professor explained that many small power plants will not have the finances to install new efficient technologies, which is something the governmental plan counts on.


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Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”