On funding from the New Green Savings, a wider range of applicants will qualify

Prague - The New Green Savings Program will be simpler this year, according to Minister of the Environment Richard Brabec (ANO), and open to a wider range of applicants. It will also focus on those interested in smaller measures who do not have enough money to insulate the entire house. Brabec stated this at a press conference today. Another novelty is that applicants will not have to use prescribed lists of products and companies.
The program, which will end on October 31 or upon exhausting the allocation, will be opened by the Ministry and the State Environmental Fund this Wednesday. People will again be able to apply for grants for energy savings and insulation for family houses across the country and, for the first time in five years, for residential buildings in Prague.
A total of approximately 1.1 billion crowns will be available, of which 600 million should go to family houses and half a billion to "apartment buildings." The fund will start accepting electronic applications from May 15.
"There will also be measures that, for example, by combining window replacement and one other partial measure, will achieve at least a twenty percent energy savings. And that is already a threshold that a relatively large number of applicants will reach," said the minister. With the introduction of this option, according to him, the program will de facto open without distinction to all owners, primarily of family houses.
The ministry also promises that the processing time for applications will be shortened. A maximum of three weeks will be required for the approval of applications, three weeks for the fund to check the documentation and calculate the amount of the grant, and three weeks for the payment of the grant. Newly, people will also be able to apply for a grant for replacing electric heating with a heat pump and carry out energy-saving measures even in family houses over 350 square meters.
"One of the measures we have implemented is that we will pay for the technical supervision for the investor. This means that every citizen who is insulating their house does not have to worry all day long about how the company is carrying out the insulation," said the fund director Petr Valdman. However, he emphasized that it is up to each individual to choose a contractor with good references. There will still be a ten percent advantage for residents of Moravian-Silesian and Ústí nad Labem regions this year due to ecological burden.
The grant amount can increase up to 50% of costs for family houses and up to 20% of expenses for residential buildings. Family houses can receive a maximum of five million crowns, while "apartment buildings" can receive a ten million crown grant. Another change this year is the introduction of so-called flat rates per square meter, which should simplify the calculation of grant amounts.
Brabec stated that 1.1 billion crowns is less than last year, which is based on how much the Czech Republic has available from emissions allowance auctions. "We firmly believe that the volume of emissions allowances, their price in combination with so-called backloading, the return of emissions allowances to the market, will allow for higher funds in the coming years until 2020," added the minister. The government approved the program on Monday with a total volume of 27 billion by 2020.
The material approved by the government also includes support for passive residential buildings and photovoltaic systems, but according to Brabec, due to legislation and the current volume of money, calls for them will not be issued this year. "We are therefore staying with passive family houses for now, where the support still exists as last year and will also be this year," he said.