Household consumers from north Moldova cut energy consumption by 22 per cent in last cold season

Chisinau, 28 April /MOLDPRES/ - The household consumers from north Moldova since early 2023 have cut their consumption of energy by up to 22 per cent in a behavioral experiment carried out within the programme, Approaching the impact of the energy crisis in Moldova. The programme is financed by the European Union and is implemented by the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) Moldova.

According to UNDP, the experiment proved that the households can be positively influenced through behavioral letters, with most of them managing to cut the consumption even by 22 per cent after they received letters.   

The way of behavioral letters proved to have a greater effect on the households which consume more energy (over 200 KWhour/month) and they are motivated to decrease the consumption of electric energy through letters most of all. At the same time, the household with a medium consumption (less than 200 KWh/month) were less sensitive to this instrument, saving between 2 and 8 per cent of electric energy. The greatest impact of the motivational letters was noticed in the first three months (10-20 per cent); afterwards, the saving at consumption dropped under 10 per cent and even disappeared in some cases.  

Wirth a budget of 10 million euros, allocated by the European Union, the programme, Approaching the impact of the energy crisis in Moldova, supported the platform www.compensatii.gov.md and will launch a programme on replacing old household appliances by new and energy efficient ones, finances the setting of photovoltaic panels in households and several hospitals, as well as the change of the centralized heating systems in more apartment blocks according to horizontal distribution system, which are much more efficient.       

Photo: UNDP