Energy poverty is severe in Bulgaria, impacting 40% of the population according to the Bulgarian National Academy of Sciences. There are measures and public funds to address it, but are they effective, transparent and accessible for everyone? These two online events focused on factors essential to reducing energy consumption and transition to renewable energy and energy independence for households.
During the webinar “Renovated home with small bills – easy and for everyone” – which took place on 5 March 2023 – building renovation and the role of energy offices that support the process were the main agenda. On focus was a building renovation financing program under the Bulgarian Recovery and Resilience Plan. Speakers present at the webinar were: a President of the board of directors of an association of owners of a multifamily building that applied for the last building renovation program and an employee in a “One-stop-shop” type energy office, well acquainted with the steps, procedures and preparation of the necessary documentation.
The discussion focused on the opportunities of the program, the challenges faced while applying, the biggest weaknesses of the program, collaboration points between owners and energy offices and improvements made since the previous program for building renovation with public funds support. The call for applications for building renovation of multifamily buildings was still open, so the speakers shared first hand experience of their path and provided tips to next applicants.
What was highlighted during the webinar was how the existence of “One-stop-shop” type energy office makes building renovation in the municipality area much more popular and also improves the quality of the applications submitted for financing. The creation of six pilot “One-stop-shop” type energy offices is a reform under the NRRP and the webinar showed their importance in reducing the administrative burden and success in the application process of building renovation programs for households.
Recording available here: Renovated home with small bills – easy and for everyone (in Bulgarian)
The second online event, which took place on 14 March, focused on the role of the local heating and cooling plans to reduce energy poverty and shift away from fossil fuels. Several experts – a climate and circular economy policy expert, working on climate sequestration in buildings, an energy poverty officer, renewable heating campaigner, building decarbonisation, heat planning and energy communities expert and researchers – presented studies on whether municipalities with population below 45 thousand can support efficient individual heating, what are the challenges of solid fuel heating in EU and then, looking at the solutions, shared good practices and strategies to transform a coal-based district heating system to a renewable one, accessible and affordable for everyone.
One of the key messages from the event was that to transform a coal-based district heating there should be a combination of measures to firstly reduce heat demand, secondly to improve efficiency and lastly, to install substitutes for supply. Case studies and recommendations on Community heating and cooling initiatives were shared to promote public participation in the transition.
Recordings available here:
- Чиста енергия за хората – Ролята на местните планове за отопление и охлаждане (in Bulgarian)
- Clean energy for people – The role of the local heating & cooling plans (in English)
These two online events were attended by 76 people from 6 EU countries (Bulgaria, Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Italy and France) in total – citizens, energy office representatives, local authorities and the industry.
