Country · 7 min read · Updated 2026-05-08
Heat pumps in Germany 2026 — BEG subsidies, climate, brand share
Germany's BEG-EM scheme funds up to 70% of heat-pump capex (cap €21 000). Average climate, expensive electricity, and a market dominated by Daikin, Vaillant and Bosch.
Market snapshot
Germany is Europe's largest heat-pump market by listings — Daikin alone has more than 14 000 model variants registered in EPREL, and the top-five brands together hold over 50% of European share. The 2024 Heating Act (GEG) requires every new heating system to be ≥ 65% renewable, effectively making heat pumps the default for new builds and major renovations.
The economics are the famously hard part. German household electricity runs around €0.39/kWh while gas is €0.12/kWh — a 3.2× ratio that makes a SCOP-4 heat pump only marginally cheaper to run than a gas boiler before any subsidy kicks in. The scheme that makes the math work is BEG-EM.
BEG-EM: the subsidy that flips the math
| Stack item | Bonus | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Base | 30% | Replacing existing heater in existing home |
| Climate-friendly bonus | +5% | Natural refrigerant (R290) or ground-source / water source |
| Speed bonus | +20% | Replaces fossil-fuel heater installed before 2009 (or > 20 years old). Steps down after 2028. |
| Income bonus | +30% | Household taxable income ≤ €40 000/yr |
| Cap | 70% | Eligible cost capped at €30 000 → max grant €21 000 |
A low-income household replacing a 2003-vintage gas boiler with a ground-source HP using R290 stacks all four bonuses, hits the 70% cap and gets €21 000 back on a €30 000 install. Installation has to be filed before signing a contract — work the order with your installer.
Climate
Berlin sits in the Average EN 14825 climate zone, with about 3 308 HDD₁₈ per year and a 30-year January mean of −0.7 °C. Most of Germany follows: mild winters punctuated by short −10 °C cold snaps. Air-source heat pumps perform well to about −15 °C; below that backup electric resistive kicks in but rarely runs more than a few days a year.
Top brands in the German listings
The German market is bifurcated. Native brands (Vaillant, Bosch Thermotechnik, Stiebel Eltron, Wolf) dominate retrofits and the installer-channel. Imports (Daikin, Mitsubishi, LG, Panasonic) win on price-performance in new builds.
| Rank | Brand | Avg SCOP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daikin Europe | 4.45 |
| 2 | Bosch Thermotechnik | 4.69 |
| 3 | Vaillant | 4.55 |
| 4 | Mitsubishi Electric Europe | 4.51 |
(Live ranking on the brand index.)
Recommended setup for a typical German retrofit
- Type: monobloc air-to-water with R290 — captures the climate-
friendly +5% bonus and avoids F-gas service constraints.
- Sizing: ~10 kW for a 150 m² moderately insulated home.
- Tariff: opt into your utility's Wärmepumpentarif if available;
saves €0.10–0.15/kWh on the HP-attributed metering.
- PV add-on: BEG does not fund PV but stacking with KfW 270 is
routine — see Solar PV + heat pump.
Sources
- BAFA — BEG-EM Heat Pump (last verified 2026-05-07)
- Eurostat tariff dataset
nrg_pc_204band DC, semester 2024-S2 - NASA POWER 30-year normal at Berlin (52.52 °N, 13.40 °E)
- EPREL Public API, snapshot of 2026-05-08
For a detailed economic projection, see the payback calculator — pre-fill country = Germany and current fuel = Gas.