BELGRADE (Serbia), July 25 (SeeNews) – Serbia's government plans to launch a 30 million euro ($33.4 million) energy efficiency fund in 2020, a government official said.
"The money will be directed towards the citizens, unlike the current budget of about 1.5 million euro which is directed towards local self-governments and their projects for rehabilitation of schools, hospitals, kindergartens," news agency Tanjug quoted on Wednesday Milos Banjac, an advisor to the minister of energy, as saying.
The government has already secured 10 million euro financing for the fund, while additional 10 million euro will be provided by the European Union (EU), Banjac said at a panel discussion in Belgrade.
The fund will enable a substantial cost rationalisation, both on the side of the electricity producer and on the consumer side, Banjac said.
The EU is providing an additional 30 million euro to support the energy efficiency efforts of six countries in the Western Balkans, the EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn said in February. The financing will go to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia under the EU Regional Energy Efficiency Programme (REEP), Hahn said.
The REEP programme was launched in 2013 as a joint initiative of the EC, bilateral donors and beneficiary countries cooperating under the WBIF, and implemented by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in close collaboration with the Energy Community Secretariat.
($ = 0.8978 euro)