Thanks to an agreement with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Italian Government will contribute €10 million to compensate the most vulnerable households for energy costs in the current heating season and to help households and public institutions to become energy efficient.

Italy's contribution will enable authorities to cover the compensation directly in the next heating season for energy vulnerable households.

Thanks to the funding from the Italian Government, smart meters will be installed in households facing high energy consumption and the burden of paying bills. This will contribute to a more rational use of electricity, especially during peak hours. The data collected will be used to develop new energy efficiency policies. With smart grids, consumers will have more offers to choose from, with flexible tariffs. They will be able to use their appliances at times when energy is cheaper.

Thanks to an agreement with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Italian Government will contribute €10 million to compensate the most vulnerable households for energy costs in the current heating season and to help households and public institutions to become energy efficient.

"Overall, under the Moldova Support Platform, Italy is contributing €20 million to the resilience of the energy sector in Moldova. I am particularly pleased that a component of this agreement with UNDP will be dedicated to the installation of smart electricity meters. These devices will be of great help to families in the Republic of Moldova, especially the most vulnerable. They will help make the distribution grid more efficient, increase security and the ability to manage electricity produced from renewable sources. More efficiency means less vulnerability", said Lorenzo Tomassoni, Italian Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova.

"With the support of Italy, we will continue the digitalization of the energy sector by expanding the number of new generation meters, which allow remote data collection in real time, which for us is the first step towards differentiated energy tariffs. Also thanks to Italy, we will be able to increase the number of public buildings that will benefit from investments in energy efficiency measures, so that the money saved can be redirected to other purposes. We are paying about three times more for energy not because we have high tariffs, but because we have not invested in energy efficiency," said Victor Parlicov, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Moldova.

With support from the Italian Government and UNDP, photovoltaic panels will be installed on several critical public buildings, including hospitals. As a result, institutions will be able to significantly reduce their energy bills and the savings could be channeled into improving essential services to the population.

At the same time, homeowners' associations will be helped to implement energy rehabilitation measures in residential buildings, such as: insulating buildings, replacing windows, insulating facades, insulating basement floors, installing photovoltaic panels on roofs, modernizing heating distribution systems and many others.

"We appreciate the Italian Government's contribution, which will bring benefits on two dimensions. It will supplement the resources of the Energy Vulnerability Vulnerability Reduction Fund, which provides compensation directly in the bill to Moldovans facing energy poverty. At the same time, the Italy-UNDP partnership will support the implementation of energy efficiency measures and in particular technologies such as smart meters, which accelerate the energy transition," said Daniela Gasparikova, UNDP Resident Representative in Moldova.

"The energy compensation program is innovative, a new model through which the Government can be close to Moldovan households. I would like to thank the Italian people and the UNDP Moldova team for standing by the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, as well as the Ministry's team for their dedication and effort. Last but not least, I want to urge everyone to use energy resources efficiently and rationally", said Alexei Buzu, Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Moldova.

The Energy Vulnerability Fund was created in 2022 by the Government of the Republic of Moldova, with the support of the European Union, Slovakia and UNDP, in order to alleviate energy poverty, aggravated by multiple crises.

In the 2022-2023 heating season, about 895,000 households benefited from bill compensation. According to UNDP's evaluation of the Fund's impact, the compensations reduced the level of energy poverty by 43% and had the greatest impact on the most vulnerable households; up to 57% of the cost of natural gas bills and 59% of the cost of heating bills were compensated.

UNDP and the European Union, as well as other development partners, will continue to provide support in the 2023-2024 heating season to operationalize the Fund. Extensive information and awareness campaigns on the need to save energy will also be conducted.

The Energy Vulnerability Reduction Fund is complemented by other UNDP-supported interventions, including a program urging people to replace old household appliances with energy efficient ones.