Residents pledged support for abandoning gas cylinders, but fear business electricity bills

In the Jurbarkas district, Viešvilė, residents of an apartment building smell the gas at least once a month: a neighbor who uses toxic substances likes to unscrew the gas cylinder, but falls asleep. In this apartment building, residents use balloons for cooking, as well as 20,000 other houses across Lithuania.

The Ministry of Energy ruled that it is not safe to cook in multi-apartment buildings with balloons. By 2022, residents will have to give up unsafe balloons entirely. Therefore, the state is already allocating 15 million. to replace cylinders with other alternatives.

At a press conference on Thursday, Energy Minister Žygimantas Vaičiūnas said that, for the time being, support will reach people living in three-story and larger houses. It is true that it will take effort to get support.

There is nothing you can do

“We can fly at any time,” says Alina, a resident of the Viesvilė apartment building. Police and fire forces are regularly invited to the apartment building where he lives, but there is nothing he can do.

“Nothing exploded, so the neighbors cannot take away a gas bottle,” said the resident. Her second-floor neighbor drinks alcohol, closes the balloon valve, and falls asleep. When residents smell gas, the scenario repeats: firefighters, police.

She agrees that the use of cylinders in apartment buildings is unsafe, but the authorities have taken the population hostage: the gas pipes were cut long ago.

“This is a long-standing problem that we have to solve,” Ž said. Vaičiūnas.

Gas cylinders will be replaced in all three-story and larger apartment buildings in Lithuania.

For an electric stove – 200 euros

This amount is expected to cover installation and hiring jobs in residents’ homes. Gas stoves in residents’ homes will be replaced by power plants, only in some cases will gas remain.

“The goal is to replace all gas cylinders. In addition, the distribution operator will cover the introduction of the presentations to the house,” said the Minister of Energy.

In addition, EUR 200 will be used to purchase an electric stove. “With this program, we expect residents to have to pay practically nothing,” said the minister.

True, as the energy minister said at a press conference on Thursday, support has so far been promised only to residents of houses with three or more floors. Support can be expanded later. Questions for the population are already being asked today.

They fear having to pay more for cooking

Alina, a Viesvilė resident, wonders why residents will be forced to use more expensive electricity. “It is more expensive, you have to pay more and we save every penny,” he said.

However, residents are forced to abandon the balloons by 2022.

Residents of the Viešvilė apartment building would consider alternatives that would not be more expensive than the balloons currently in use. “There is not much work here, people do not earn much, so probably nobody is in a hurry to leave the balloons here,” thinks Alina.

Inga Žilienė, chair of the State Energy Regulatory Council (VERT), said the council receives regular information on gas leaks and explosions in residents’ homes. I.Žilienė believes that this financing will allow for a secure energy supply.

Applications – through ESO

Home managers should contact support. According to Mindaugas Keizeris, head of the electricity and gas distribution company Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius (ESO), applications must be submitted via the ESO website.

Administrators must obtain consent from residents to convert gas stoves to electricity and submit applications.

The support mechanism will begin on July 15 of this year.

According to the Ministry, there are currently more than 1,600 apartment buildings (three stories and more) in the country and around 42,000. households that still use LPG cylinders. All of these houses should have no more gas cylinders by 2022.

In addition, stricter procedures for the use of gas cylinders came into force in January. They must be fitted with safety valves to prevent the cylinder from exploding in the event of a fire.