Good news for Romanians who do not have distributors installed! Parliament initiates the extension of the deadline for mandatory installation of heat distributors until December 31, 2024.
Good news for Romanians who do not have distributors installed
In addition, the new draft Law regarding the extension of the term for installing heat distributors until the end of 2024 also provides for the possibility of granting financial support from the Modernization Fund for vulnerable consumers.
In Romania, approximately one million homes are still connected to the centralized heat energy supply system, and half of them are located in the six sectors of the capital. In Bucharest, 275,000 apartments do not yet have such systems installed. In the current context, the worsening of the energy crisis significantly affects vulnerable citizens, increasing the risk of energy poverty and having a significant impact on the quality of life. In order to counteract this situation, it is necessary to adopt some measures to provide support to the vulnerable population in compensating the costs related to the purchase and installation of technical systems for measuring individual thermal energy consumption in condominium buildings connected to the centralized thermal energy supply system.
The category of vulnerable people and families includes those with a monthly income of less than 2,000 lei per family member, along with fulfilling the conditions related to age and work capacity, but also people who are at risk of losing their ability to satisfy daily living needs due to illness and/or disability situations. The relevant age threshold for this assessment is set at 60 years, so that all vulnerability criteria are met to identify a person or family at risk of poverty and provide them with financial support from public funds.
The budget of the measure to provide the necessary support to the vulnerable population to compensate for the cost related to the purchase and installation of technical systems for determining the individual consumption of thermal energy granted through energy cards would be 375,000 thousand lei, supported by the Modernization Fund. Given the fact that the obligation to install meters derives from the objectives of the European Union regarding energy efficiency, the support measures aimed at complying with this requirement align with the key function of the Modernization Fund. It is an essential tool in promoting energy efficiency and modernizing energy systems.
“We have this obligation established at the European level. At the same time, our zero priority is the interest of the Romanian citizen. We know that there is a great reluctance, including because of the costs that the installation of distributors entails. For the first time, we grant the exemption from the term for installation until the end of 2024 and we have a scheme to support vulnerable consumers, funded from the Modernization Fund. We thus meet the expectations of hundreds of thousands of Romanians, including over 200,000 Bucharest residents, who were rightly afraid of possible fines. I am particularly glad that this initiative is also supported by parliamentary colleagues from other parties“, says Sebastian Burduja, Minister of Energy and co-initiator of the bill:
Tags: Parliament extended deadline mandatory installation distributors
