STEM: Czech households are heating less because of high costs and cutting other spending

About three-fifths of Czech households do not heat some parts of their flats or houses sufficiently. More than half of households have also cut other spending because of high heating costs. Energy-saving measures are being taken mainly by people who consider their economic situation to be poor and by people over 60. This is according to a survey conducted by the STEM agency in January this year and published by the agency today.

Compared with 2019, when the agency conducted a similar survey, the share of households that do not heat part of their flat or house adequately rose from 39 to 62 percent. The share of households cutting other spending because of heating costs more than doubled, from 22 to 53 percent. Energy prices, and consequently heating costs, rose significantly after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last year.

„An analysis of differences between various sociodemographic groups shows that, compared with 2019, people across all age groups have increasingly adopted energy-saving measures. However, as in the previous survey, people over 60 were the most likely to do so,“ STEM said.