The global energy crisis, which caused enormous rise of the prices of the electric and the heat energy, activated the red alarm for the citizens of North Macedonia. The questions about the amount of the electricity bills starting from the 1st of January 2022, accompanied by the speculations that there will be power rationing measures, drove the the citizens of North Macedonia this autumn to purchase wood-burning stoves as a replacement for the central heating or the inverter air conditioners.
By the end of this year, the Energy Regulatory Commission has to announce its calculations on how much the electricity bills for the households and the small consumers will rise during January-June 2022, but it is likely that a price rise of the electricity is due.
The real issue is whether the rise of electricity bills, including the eventual rise of central heating bills in Skopje, will cause a hike in people’s interest to replace their inverter air conditioners and central heating with wood-burning stoves again or they would divert toward renewable sources of energy? And, of course, to what extent this move by the citizens would have a negative influence on the air pollution in the cities?
The new research by Eko-svest Center (Eco-consciousness), prepared by INDAGO toward the end of November this year, that was presented during the workshop as part of the Partnership for a Smarter Heating, revealed that the people had a conservative stance toward changes of the heating option they have been using. The research has shown that 53% of the households that took part in the research didn’t want to change the heating solution and only 10% were ready to take a step in that direction. The remaining households would have oriente toward more modern and more environmentally friendly ways of heating, but only if they receive a grant to do it.
Meta.mk asked Gorjan Jovanovski, the creator of the “My Air” app and councilor from “Green and Humane City” at Skopje Council, to what extent people’s intentions to purchase wood-burning stoves could be influencing negatively the levels of air pollution in the cities. He replies that as citizens we should divert toward solar energy.
“The burning of wood is causing pollution, but also the electricity production from coal and mazut is causing enormous pollution. As a country with over 230 average sunny days during the year, the solar power plants and the promotion of the solar energy for households are crucial for lowering the air pollution from many sources. This is a long-standing measure that cannot be postponed any longer,” said Gorjan Jovanovski, stating that the plans for such development for Skopje and the whole country mustn’t be done only for one election cycle, but for the next 50 or 100 years.
On the other hand, INDAGO’s research has shown that half of the households in North Macedonia are heating only those rooms where they spend their time, but also 79% are satisfied with how they are. Most of the households would replace the old wood-burning stoves with inverter air conditioners or with heat pump systems or central heating, and yet up to 70% have stated that wouldn’t want to raise a loan for such investment while only 19% have stated that up to 300 EUR is an acceptable investment.
This research indicates that the state, banks and municipalities are the subjects that will have to instigate the citizens to invest financially in new heating systems, but the big issue is whether the inverters, whose purchases were stimulated by the municipalities and the governments through subsidies, are a true alternative for North Macedonia. This comes at a time when the import of electricity from abroad is too expensive, while the production of electricity from mazut and coal in the power plants in the country is highly non-environmentally-friendly choice.
Gorjan Jovanovski says that the inverters are helping decrease the local air pollution in densely populated areas where previously the majority of people were using firewood for heating.
On the other hand, the production of electricity from coal and mazut also pollutes and taking into account the current prices of electricity production from €150 to €180 per MWh by TEV Negotino, this is a factor that will also “heat up’ the electricity bills.
The O2 Initiative criticized the central government for the steps taken in a situation of energy crisis. Last week, the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia voted to reallocate assets between budgetary beneficiaries for 2021, which decreased additionally the assets from the budget in the amount of €13,5 mil that were planned for the fight against air pollution, illegal landfills; for protection of the water and the living environment, energy efficiency and energy independence.
“Decreasing the sums means that the planned actions for the fight against air pollution, illegal landfills; for protection of the water and the living environment, energy efficiency and energy independence weren’t implemented, which is defeating,” wrote O2 Initiative on their Facebook page.
The O2 Initiative cites as example the decrease of the assets for fighting air pollution by 71% of the planned €1.3 millionfrom this year’s budget. For energy-efficient rehabilitation of the student dormitories, there is a decrease by €71,500 or 5% less than the planned assets in the budget for 2021. There is also a decrease by 65% of the capital expenses in the sector for waste management i.e. a cut by €326,000.
Directly or indirectly, failing to implement or delaying the necessary projects promised by the central government is influencing negatively the air we are breathing, but is also sending a bad message to the citizens regarding their decisions when it comes to the investments in renewable energy sources or toward environmentally-friendly heating units in their homes.
On the other hand, the data provided by the State Statistical Office (SSO) about the energy sources that Macedonian households are using for heating are extremely harmful regarding the air pollution. 49.2 of the households in the country in 2019 have responded that they are using firewood or firewood from the orchards in order to heat the spaces that they are living while 31.3% of the household use electric energy for heating. This energy is yet to be produced by thermal power plants and its price is highly likely to rise in the future. 10.5% of the households have been connected to the central heating while 8.5% of the households were using pellets or briquettes.
If we make a comparison with another research done by the SSO 5 years ago, the statistics in 2014 have determined that 61.59% of the households were using firewood and wood from the orchards, 28.6% of the households were using electricity for heating, and only 8.33% of the households had access to central heating, while 0.87% of the households were using briquets and pellet for heating.
The comparison of the data shows that the use of firewood has been dropping throughout the years and there is a rise in the use of central heating, heating with electricity and wooden briquets and pellets. In order to prevent the opposite negative process i.e. an increase in the percentage of households using firewood during the period of an energy crisis, the central government, but also the municipalities, will have to immediately increase the stimulative measures for the citizens to start using solar energy and to invest in energy efficiency and raising the awareness of rational electricity spending.
