Zagreb – Proposed amendments to the Thermal Energy Market Act will allow each buyer or property owner to pay for heating based on actual consumption. Those who do not install dividers or calorimeters will be required to pay a fee to promote heating efficiency, it was stated in Parliament on Thursday.
As explained by Vedran Špehar, State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy, the amendments, which align domestic regulations with the European directive, envisage the separation of individual heating costs paid by the buyer (property owner) from the shared costs of the building, which are covered by the reserve fund.
Property owners will decide whether or not to install dividers. Those who already have dividers will have their heating costs allocated and calculated based on the readings from those devices, while those who do not will pay the efficiency-promoting fee.
The law abolishes fines for end users who have not installed dividers.
Funds collected from the fee for promoting heating efficiency will be paid into the shared reserve fund and can, if the co-owners agree, be used for the installation of dividers or directed towards another energy efficiency measure, according to the proposed amendments.
The exact amount of the fee, as well as the technical conditions for the installation and maintenance of the measuring devices and the methods for distributing and calculating heating costs, will be determined by regulation.
The law also introduces the mandatory installation of remote-reading meters.
Špehar emphasised: "We want to empower consumers and encourage energy efficiency, provide them with transparent consumption tracking and allow them to influence their bills. We also want to stimulate the development of new heating systems that use renewable energy sources for operation." "Each buyer will be able to regulate their consumption within their own apartment," he added.
Although she supports the law, like other MPs, Mirela Ahmetović (Social Democratic Party) believes it will not achieve the intended goals.
She predicted that while the total heating costs will be divided into individual and shared costs, this will be administratively implemented but will not be accurate, as individual costs will not match the actual consumption. She also warned that dividers do not measure consumption accurately.