It is my pleasure to inform you that as of today we have opened the call for subsidies for efficient economic heating equipment, in the value of 6 million euros.

The equipment that we are going to subsidize include:

1. Biomass boilers (wood, pellets, briquettes) will be subsidized with 70% of the value; subsidy up to 1200 euros;
2. Thermal pumps (which reduce electricity consumption by up to 70%), will be subsidized by 30% of the value; subsidy up to 2500 euros.
3. Efficient air conditioners (which also reduce costs up to 70%), will be subsidized with 40% of the value; subsidy up to 400 euros.
4. Efficient individual stoves with biomass (wood), which – for families that are part of the social assistance scheme, will be subsidized by 90%, subsidy up to 560 euros; while for others, up to 70%, subsidy up to 435 euros.

The application for these is made online via the eKosova platform. The eligibility criteria and the technical specifications of the equipment to be subsidized are specified clearly in the call for applications.

The purpose of the measures is twofold:
– To help families who want to replace electric heating with other alternatives (pellets, wood, briquettes) or with electrical devices that use 60-70% less electricity. You can read the specific criteria in the call.

– To help all families, regardless of what they use for heating, and especially families with more difficult economic conditions, to have higher efficiency – that is, to manage to keep their homes warm, and achieve this with less expenses on wood, or other fuels.
With these measures, we aim to support at least 10,000 families.

As a result of the measures, we expect a decrease of almost 70% in the energy consumption consumed by these families for heating. This means that these families will benefit manifold:

– First, the direct benefit from the equipment subsidy, in the amount of 400 to 2500 euros
– Second, savings by reducing electricity bills or spending on wood and other fuels
– Third, these families that save electricity additionally benefit from the government subsidy related to saving.

These measures are expected to save the country 12 million euros this winter alone.
I wish to thank the team who designed these measures, including representatives from the Ministry of Economy, the Energy Efficiency Fund, the Agency for Energy Efficiency and the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers.

I especially thank the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), for technical assistance in the design and promotion of these measures.

I want to also thank the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) for professional counseling based on their experiences in implementing similar measures.

This is the first scheme of Kosovo institutions to support energy efficiency for citizens. This experience will develop institutional capacities and pave the way for our institutions to continue with the implementation of other similar and even more complex measures to support citizens, such as through subsidizing efficient household appliances, solar panels, solar panels for heating water, insulation of houses, etc.

As we have repeatedly said, each action to save energy is not only a saving for consumers and the state budget, but also increases the likelihood of regular energy supply.