Remotely readable heat meters by 31 December 2026: what the deadline means for installation companies

On 31 December 2026, the transition period in Germany's heating cost regulation (Heizkostenverordnung, HeizkostenV) ends. From then on, the devices that measure heating and hot water use must be remotely readable in buildings where several users share a central heating system. That covers heat cost allocators as well as heat and hot water meters. Devices that aren't have to be retrofitted or replaced.

For metering service providers and the installation companies working for them, this means a large number of flat visits in the final weeks of the year. It also means a lot of work that will spill into 2027. This post covers what the rule actually says and what we see installation companies doing to get through it.

What the regulation says

The core rules are in § 5 HeizkostenV:

Since 1 December 2021, every newly installed device must be remotely readable.
Since 1 December 2022, new devices must also be interoperable and securely connectable to a smart meter gateway.
By 31 December 2026, devices installed before 1 December 2021 that can't be read remotely must be retrofitted or replaced.
From 2032, remotely readable devices installed up to 1 December 2022 must also meet the smart meter gateway requirements.

The rule covers heating and hot water. Cold water meters are outside it.

There is an exception for single cases where the retrofit is technically impossible, or where it would take unreasonable effort or cause unfair hardship in some other way. It is meant for single buildings with special circumstances, not as a general way out.

Residents have to accept the installation. § 4 HeizkostenV says plainly that users must tolerate it ("die Nutzer haben dies zu dulden"). In practice, though, tolerating an installation is not the same as being home when the technician rings.

What happens if a building misses the deadline

Under § 12 HeizkostenV, tenants may cut their share of the heating and hot water costs by 3% if the owner has not installed remotely readable devices as required. Once remote devices are in place, owners must also send monthly consumption information (§ 6a). If they don't, tenants may cut another 3%.

So the deadline does not make the obligation go away. A building that isn't done by 31 December still has to be done, and every billing period without the devices costs the owner money. For installation companies, that means demand continues well into 2027.

What it means for installation companies

Access is the bottleneck, not the device

Swapping a heat cost allocator takes minutes. Getting into the flat is the hard part. Every radiator in every flat needs a visit, and every resident who isn't home means a second trip to the same building.

The usual approach is a notice in the stairwell with one date and a time window. It works for the residents who are home that day. The others need a new appointment, and each round of rescheduling usually costs the office a phone call. In a large building, the last few flats can take more trips than the first fifty.

What helps:

Plan by building, not by flat. Book all flats in a building into the same days, so a second round is one more stop on a route the crew already drives.
Give residents a way to move their slot themselves, at any time of day. A resident who sees the notice in the evening should be able to pick another slot right away, not call the office the next morning.
Confirm the day before. A short SMS reminder catches the residents who forgot, before the technician stands at a locked door.

The documentation matters as much as the installation

When a device is swapped mid-period, the billing depends on what the technician records on site: the old device number and its final reading, the new device number and its position on the radiator. A missing reading or a swapped number is invisible on the day. It shows up months later, in the heating cost statement, when someone has to explain it to a tenant.

Photos of the old and new device, taken at the time, save a lot of that work. So does checking the data before the technician leaves the flat, rather than when the paper reports reach the office at the end of the week.

Plan for the next round now

The 2026 deadline is not the last one. Remote devices installed up to 1 December 2022 must meet the smart meter gateway requirements from 2032. Companies that keep a clean record of which device sits in which flat, and when it was installed, will know exactly which buildings need a visit for that step. Those that don't will have to find out by knocking on doors again.

Temporary capacity needs simple tools

To handle the peak, many companies bring in extra technicians or subcontractors. They need to be productive from their first day, often in buildings they have never seen. A field app that shows them the day's flats in order and works offline in the cellar makes that possible without a week of training. If it also checks their photos on the spot, mistakes get fixed while the technician is still in the flat.

How Jarvis helps

Jarvis plans retrofit projects building by building and builds each technician's daily route. It agrees appointments with residents by letter and SMS, and residents can move their slot themselves around the clock, by phone or in an online portal. When a resident isn't home, Jarvis books the next visit into a day the crew is already nearby.

In the Jarvis app, technicians record the old and new device numbers with their readings, and their photos are checked by AI on site. The app works offline. Project managers see progress per building in real time, and every completed flat comes with the data needed for billing. U-SERV GmbH, for example, plans and schedules its meter swap projects with Jarvis.

If you are working through the 2026 deadline, or already planning for 2027, we are happy to look at how you plan these visits today. Book a 15-minute walkthrough.

This article is not legal advice. For questions about a specific building, check the current text of the Heizkostenverordnung or ask a lawyer.

Sources

By Valter Pasanen, Founder, Grid Jarvis. Published 2026-07-09. 2026-07-09