Moldovan citizens to receive voucher worth 12,000 lei to buy new equipment, within Used-up Household Appliances programme

Chisinau, 23 November /MOLDPRES/ - The programme, Used-up Household Appliances, was launched in Chisinau today. Within the programme, citizens will be able to benefit from vouchers for replacing obsolete and used-up household appliances by new ones, with high energy efficiency.     

At the first stage of the project, 2,200 vouchers worth 12,000 lei each will be provided. The money will be able to be used to buy big household appliances, such as fridges, washing machines or electric ovens. To benefit from the new technology, citizens will have to make a their own contribution of 20 per cent of the asset’s value and provide, in exchange, old household appliances of the same category, which are to be recycled. At the same time, about 50,000 families from Moldova will receive vouchers worth 500 lei to purchase LED lamps.       

Director of the Agency for Energy Efficiency (AEE) Ion Muntean said the beneficiaries would be selected depending on more criteria, including the energy vulnerability degree, consumption of energy, number of family members. ‘’There are two types of vouchers for the current session: of 500 lei for buying led lamps and worth 12,000 lei for big household appliances. The people having a voucher of 500 lei just have to present their identity cards at partner shops and buy the led lamps. The holders of the vouchers worth 12,000 lei will have to pay a contribution of 20 per cent of the asset’s value. The session launched today will have 2,200 beneficiaries of big equipment and will be open till 3 December. Subsequently, a new session will be launched, with at least 4,000 beneficiaries scheduled to be included in the list,’’ Muntean noted.      

Energy Minister Victor Parlicov said the project launched tackled two problems: on the one hand, - support for people in maximal vulnerability and on the other hand – the problem of energy efficiency, i.e. the reduction, on the long-term, of the impact on the invoices through cutting of the consumption of energy due to the use of more efficient household appliances. ‘’We can reduce the vulnerability of households not only through the fact that we provide them with compensations, but also through the fact that we reduce the invoices and the consumption of energy on a long term,’’ Victor Parlicov added.     

The programme has a budget of 5.8 million euros and was developed with the European Union’s financial support and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Moldova, in partnership with AEE.

Ambassador of the European Union to Moldova Jānis Mažeiks said that, starting from today, families from Moldova would benefit from a programme meant to contribute to their well-being. ‘’Now, when Moldova advances with quick steps to its goal of accession to EU, we hope that the country’s citizens will be part of the programme on energy efficiency and reducing the emissions of greenhouse gas, contributing, at the same time, to the decreasing of the environmental pollution. EU supports also Moldova’s efforts in renewable energy reform,’’ the ambassador noted.  

UNDP Resident Representative in Moldova Daniela Gasparikova said the programme launched had ambitious goals and the authorities would be able to use the experience gained, in order to improve the system in the long run.    

The programme’s beneficiaries from this year are selected from among people who registered for compensations for energy in 2022. The people who register for compensations this year will be potential beneficiaries of the programme in 2024.   

The beneficiaries are distributed moderately according to areas, depending on the number of residents in each district. Those who fail to turn to good account the vouchers received in due time, will be eligible in the next sessions of the programme, depending on the financial resources available.