KYIV. Nov 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) seeks to design methods for monitoring results of the implementation of the public program to partially compensate the cost of loans for modernization of heating efficiency and increase of energy efficiency in the Ukrainian housing sector (the ‘warm loans’ program) by the end of 2016.
Manager of the USAID Municipal Energy Reform Project in Ukraine Diana Korsakaite said at the eighth Renewable Energy Forum in Kyiv on November 2 said that these methods would be a basis for assessing any energy efficiency crediting program in the housing area and other areas. They would help to calculate not only expenses, but how much money is returned to the country’s economy for its restoration, she said.
She said that according to a poll of representatives of homeowner associations used the ‘warm loans’ program it was established that energy consumption by them reduced by 38-46% after introduction of energy efficient measures.
The expert said that with comprehensive modernization of heating efficiency in multi-apartment buildings in Ukraine saving of energy could reach 60-77%.
Coordinator of housing and utilities programs of NGO Opora Tetiana Boiko said that as of early November 2016 the Ukrainian government has not extended the ‘warm loans’ program for 2017. The draft 2017 budget did not foresee financing of the program.
Head of the council of chairmen of homeowner associations in Lutsk Roman Bondaruk said that the program should be expanded with the help of joining commercial banks. He said that this could have cut credit rates, making the program more affordable for homeowner associations.
He said that companies that manage multi-apartment buildings and energy servicing companies should have a chance to use this program.
According to Ukraine’s State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving, since the start of the program in 2014 as of late October 2016, over 180,000 families became program participants. The total sum of loans raised was over UAH 2.5 billion. Some 452 homeowner associations used the program and took credits worth UAH 57 million.
