Request for Increased Funding for the ‘Energy Efficiency at Home II’ Programme in Western Macedonia by the Technical Chamber of Greece – Western Macedonia Section (TEE/TDM)

The ‘Energy Efficiency at Home II’ Programme, with the scheduled launch for the registration of applications by interested parties in the Region of Western Macedonia on the relevant platform being today, Monday, 26 March 2018, saw the total budget for the Programme in Western Macedonia exhausted within a matter of hours. Consequently, the electronic platform was ‘locked’, and the only applications that will be accepted from this point forward will be registered as runners-up.

As we had pointed out in good time on 28 February 2018 (‘Investigation into the Possibility of Increasing the Funding for the ‘Energy Efficiency at Home II’ Programme in Western Macedonia’), the allocation of the Programme's total budget per Region provided the Region of Western Macedonia with particularly low funding, in the region of 6,662,055.58 euros. We stressed that there was an immediate need to investigate and provide for resource allocation—should the need arise—from the Regional Operational Programme (ROP) of Western Macedonia as well, since there is no contribution to the Programme's total budget from this source. We submitted a similar request in the same letter to the Ministry of Environment and Energy and to ETEAN for additional funding from the Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Operational Programme (EPAnEK).
From the outset, the funding for ‘Energy Efficiency at Home II’ in Western Macedonia was exceptionally low compared to the actual needs for the energy upgrade of buildings in a Region that, in its entirety, is classified within the most adverse climatic zone, Zone D (according to KENAK), with all that this entails. [Positions of the Technical Chamber of Greece – Western Macedonia Section Regarding the Equalisation of the Excise Duty on Heating Oil with That of Motor Fuel and the Anticipated Impacts on Western Macedonia] and 2014 [Formulation of Proposals by the Technical Chamber of Greece – Western Macedonia Section (TEE/TDM) Regarding the Taxation of Heating Oil and the Impacts on Western Macedonia].
We therefore request an immediate and substantial increase in the financial limits of the programme for the Region of Western Macedonia, given that this necessity has been confirmed today. Specifically, a contribution from the Western Macedonia Operational Programme 2014–2020, as the Region of Western Macedonia promised in the event that the initial resources proved insufficient. Furthermore, a significant reinforcement of the initial contribution from the EPAnEK resources is necessary, so that all interested parties—who are now classified as runners-up or have so far been unable to complete their applications due to the ‘locking’ of the system—can be included in the beneficial effects of energy-efficient building upgrades.