MUNICIPALITIES WILL ADD FOR WINDOWS: A new support model is being prepared for the introduction of energy efficiency in homes, this is how it will look in practice

Instead of banks and households, local governments will subsidize the companies that are necessary in this business. Citizens will pay less for their services, for the part that was paid with the local budget.

This model of assistance in energy transformation was developed by the Swiss project “Reform of local finance in Serbia” (RELOF2), in cooperation with the Program “Development of a sustainable bioenergy market in Serbia”.

– The model represents a unique way of co-financing all kinds of investments in energy efficiency of homes, in cooperation with economic entities as partners – explains Ana Jolović, director of the RELOF2 project. – The municipality prepares all the necessary documentation for the application of the model, forms a commission and selects the companies that will be included in the support mechanism through a public tender. Citizens, who are the end users of the subsidies, are also requesting it. They work with the selected company and pay them the amount minus the grant. The local self-government, based on the request of the company, verifies the investments made and pays the planned amount.

The precondition for local autonomous governments to use this model is to have adopted public policy planning documents in the field of energy efficiency and to have provided funds in the budget.

– In Serbia, there are models of financial support at the national level that improve energy efficiency, but do not include the acquisition and installation of materials for insulation of external walls in family residential buildings, as well as carpentry with adequate thermal properties – says Petar Samardzic, Lieutenant as mayor of Sremska Mitrovica. – Therefore, we want to implement local measures in these uncovered areas, to create an energy-oriented local administration. During the next year, undoubtedly, the focus will be on the implementation of epidemiological measures and recovery, for which budget funds will also be allocated. We have enough time to train, prepare strategic documents, develop an energy efficiency program, and plan and document the tender.

INSUFFICIENT BUILDINGS

The DATA available for this project shows that the average household in Serbia, in 2018, spent 12 percent of total personal consumption on electricity and heating. Less than 40 percent of homes have central or central heating, but more than 60 percent do not have radiators. The estimated average efficiency of individual solid fuel heating devices is only about 30 percent. Buildings represent around 60 percent of the housing stock and are the least energy efficient. About 300,000 homes are not thermally insulated and consume four to five times more energy than homes in the EU.