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Heat pump offers are often cryptic and difficult to compare

3.11.2025

Translation: machine translated

A heat pump instead of an old gas or oil heating system makes sense for many households. However, offers for installation are often too complex and difficult to compare. This is what the German consumer advice centres have found out.

Imagine you've made up your mind. You want to do something good for the environment and perhaps also for your wallet in the long term. You want to buy a heat pump. But which one should it be? The path leads you to companies that install modern heating systems. You ask for quotes. And these are a problem, as Germany's consumer advice centres explain in a press release. In recent weeks, various regional consumer centres have evaluated numerous offers for heat pumps; the exact number is not given. The result: interested parties often receive «inconsistent presentations and complex technical details». In short, the offers are too complicated for consumers to understand and compare them quickly.

The cost range is also wide. For example, a study by the Rhineland-Palatinate consumer advice centre showed that the total cost of an installation can be between 20,000 and 63,000 euros. However, behind this, there are also «widely differing services», according to the press release. Many offers are also «incomplete or contain hidden costs». Specifically, suppliers often list services such as foundation work or electrical installations as «on site». This means that you have to commission bricklayers, electricians or plasterers yourself. This can quickly add up to five-figure sums.

Of course, the consumer centres use the findings from the offer analysis to refer to their own service. Anyone who wants to install a heat pump in Germany can upload up to three offers on the portal of the consumer advice centre operating in the respective federal state and then receive detailed feedback and, if required, video advice. This service is free of charge.

Switzerland: Obtain quotes through intermediaries

To the best of my knowledge, there is no comparable offer of this kind in Switzerland. Here, local energy suppliers generally advise on the installation of heat pumps and also provide their own quotes directly. Alternatively, there are portals such as Houzy or Ofri, where you can at least obtain several offers from different suppliers and then hopefully compare them well. However, these portals are usually not neutral, but receive commissions.

Maybe you'll be lucky and the appliance in your heat pump offer is one of the few currently still available at Galaxus. Then you could at least check this point to see if the supplier would charge you a fair price for it.

Boilers

Aqua Forte AQUAFORTE Mr. Silence Full Inverter Wärmepumpen - MS130 13,0 kW, 35-65m3

Dimplex M Flex heat pump M Flex 0916HBC 9-16 kW 381090

Boilers

EUR32 339,–

Dimplex M Flex heat pump M Flex 0916HBC 9-16 kW 381090

Boilers

Panasonic CZ25ZKE air/air varme pump, 5.3 kW, 100m, hvid

Boilers

Aqua Forte AQUAFORTE Mr. Silence Full Inverter Wärmepumpen - MS130 13,0 kW, 35-65m3

Boilers

EUR32 339,–

Dimplex M Flex heat pump M Flex 0916HBC 9-16 kW 381090

Boilers

Panasonic CZ25ZKE air/air varme pump, 5.3 kW, 100m, hvid

Header image: Shutterstock

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Martin Jungfer

Head of Content

Martin.Jungfer@digitecgalaxus.ch

Journalist since 1997. Stopovers in Franconia (or the Franken region), Lake Constance, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zurich. Father since 2014. Expert in editorial organisation and motivation. Focus on sustainability, home office tools, beautiful things for the home, creative toys and sports equipment.

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