As a German living in a city with mandatory district heating... the end result is to be that people seem pay more for heating than they would with a decentralised system.
I think that's mostly due to the high upkeep costs of the system, though, the transmission loss is quite manageable, I think.
Of course there are arguments to be made that when accounting for the cost of installing a heating system, and the space it takes, the premium paid for district heating is not that high.
But still... if district heating is so smart, why ain't it cheaper?
What's nice about it, and maybe hard to quantify, is how this limits air pollution in the city. However, people are still allowed wood burning ovens... which they are now all turning to since the district heat is getting really, really expensive..
I think that's mostly due to the high upkeep costs of the system, though, the transmission loss is quite manageable, I think. Of course there are arguments to be made that when accounting for the cost of installing a heating system, and the space it takes, the premium paid for district heating is not that high.
But still... if district heating is so smart, why ain't it cheaper?
What's nice about it, and maybe hard to quantify, is how this limits air pollution in the city. However, people are still allowed wood burning ovens... which they are now all turning to since the district heat is getting really, really expensive..