40 million euro for energy-saving campaign with unclear impact

To reduce energy consumption and expand renewable energies more quickly, the German government has launched an extraordinarily expensive information campaign. The concrete contribution of the campaign to the stated goals is unclear.

The novelty value of one or the other information of the campaign is also questionable. For example, it says: “If we reduce our shower time to a maximum of five minutes and lower the water temperature slightly, we not only save hot water, but also energy.” This is likely to surprise very few citizens.

Rather, taxpayers are likely to rub their eyes in surprise that these and other “recommendations for saving energy and increasing energy efficiency” will cost up to 40 million euros – this year alone. This was the result of a request from the BdSt to the responsible Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK). In concrete terms, the costs for the ongoing media operations already amounted to around 28 million euros in mid-November 2022. Furthermore, the request revealed that the “information and activation campaign” “80 million together for energy transition” (www.energiewechsel.de) is designed by the end of 2025. Expenditure is therefore likely to continue to rise.

Now there is no question that saving energy is a sensible thing – and even more so in times of energy crisis. But what exactly does the extraordinarily expensive campaign achieve? According to the BMWK, it is intended to motivate people to participate, the “tips and suggestions” are an “important building block, among other things, for short-term and low-investment energy saving”. However, it is not possible to quantify the savings effect of the campaign. Accordingly, it should only be measured indirectly whether the campaign actually achieves energy savings – for example, by looking at whether the desired target groups – consumers, companies, municipalities, etc. – are reached. Thus, it is unclear whether the campaign only reaches the desired target group, or also the desired goals. In short, there is not only a lot of money, but also a good deal of uncertainty in the campaign.