The House Environment Committee on Tuesday reviewed the 2019 draft budget for theRenewable Energy Sources Fund submitted by the Energy Ministry.
The budget includes €25 million for a new subsidies plan to encourage use of renewables and energy saving as well as promoting the use of hybrid and electric vehicles.
Roof insulation
The budget allocates €6.5 million for roof insulation. The scheme will subsidise a single household’s expenses on roof insulation up to 30%, with a subsidy cap of €1,500 per residence.
The amount allocated in last year’s budget for the same reason was €3.5 million.
Photovoltaics
The budget includes an increased subsidy per household (from €3,600 last year to €4,500) for installing photovoltaics with the use of Net Metering.
Those who wish to combine photovoltaics and roof insulation will also receive an increased subsidy.
Net metering is a system which allows consumers who generate some or all of their own electricity to use that electricity anytime, instead of when it is generated.
Hybrid or electric vehicles
A scheme to fund applicants who wish to install a photovoltaic system to charge an electric or hybrid vehicle, is also included in the budget.
Solar water heaters
An additional €300,000 in funding is included for renewing or replacing solar water heaters.
The budget
The budget provides for €49.28 million in projected revenues, while expenditures are at €64.96 million.
Of the expenditures, €58.61 million will go towards subsidies, of which €29.81 million have to do with generating electrical power from renewable energy sources.
The €25 million for promoting renewable energy use and energy saving in households is included in the €29.81 million figure.
The revenues will be raised by imposing a fixed fee in Electricity Authority bills (€43.70 million), government sponsorship (€4.80 million), emissions trading (€778,009) and other incomes provided by the Fund (€30 million).
