President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stresses the need to implement energy efficiency measures in the housing stock, as they will help reduce energy use and, as a result, reduce the cost of utilities.
“Energy efficiency measures are a very important issue; they will significantly reduce people's spending on utilities. We understand that many houses in Ukraine still have, unfortunately, outdated infrastructure, and it often turns out that people are heating space, as they say, instead of their home,” the Head of State said during a session of the Council for Development of Communities and Territories.
For his part, Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk informed that there are now about 180,000 houses in Ukraine. Most of them are not energy efficient. When implementing the program, it is suggested to focus on high-rise buildings first.
Large-scale thermal modernization will be facilitated by the Energy Efficiency Fund, which will be operating at full capacity next year.
"We have funds for this - up to 6 billion hryvnias, which we can use for energy efficiency and thermal modernization programs," Oleksiy Honcharuk said.
At the beginning of the program, it is proposed to modernize at least 1,000 houses in 10 pilot cities next year.
In addition to the benefits for residents (housing stock improvement and saving of energy and utility costs, ie social impact), the implementation of the said program is also expected to have an economic effect. The implementation of the program will create additional jobs and economic projects.
The President of Ukraine expects the local authorities to submit applications for participation in the energy efficiency program to the government by January 15, 2020.