New session of Household Appliances Voucher Program

Citizens will be able to benefit from vouchers worth up to six thousand lei for the purchase of new electrical devices such as fridges and washing machines. This will enable them to reduce their energy consumption and pay lower bills. The financial support is provided under a new session of the Appliance Voucher Program, which was launched today in Chisinau.

Thus, the beneficiaries received notifications informing them that they have obtained a voucher for the purchase of a new electrical appliance. 

In the current session, the value of the voucher is lower than in last year's editions, as the equipment to be purchased is exempt from VAT. Thus, the maximum value of the voucher is six thousand lei, but no more than 70 percent of the value of the appliance. The session launched today will run until March 23. If at the end of the session there will still be financial resources available, then they will be in the following sessions.

The current edition of the Household Appliance Voucher Program is financed by Norway, which has allocated support amounting to 7.5 million euro, and the authorities estimate that from this money, 32 thousand families in the Republic of Moldova will be able to receive vouchers for the purchase of new household appliances.

Energy Minister Dorin Junghietu said that the program will give vulnerable households the opportunity to reduce their electricity consumption and costs by replacing old household appliances with new, more energy-efficient equipment.

"This program is a concrete step towards more efficient energy consumption, contributing both to reducing the financial burden for vulnerable families and to increasing the energy sustainability of the whole country," the minister said.

Director of the National Center for Sustainable Energy (CNED) Ion Muntean said that during the sessions held last year, more than 7200 families have replaced old household appliances with new ones.

This edition of the Program is implemented by the National Center for Sustainable Energy and the Ministry of Energy within the project Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in the Republic of Moldova (E4M), implemented by GIZ. The E4M project is initiated by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and co-financed by the European Union, Germany, Norway and Denmark.

The representative of the Norwegian Embassy in Chisinau, Kamilla H. Kolshus, emphasized that Norway is glad to be a reliable partner for the Republic of Moldova, and the voucher program is one of the examples in this respect.

GIZ representative Christian Borchard said that the voucher program is a classic energy efficiency project with multiple benefits, in which support is provided for the purchase of energy-efficient equipment to reduce energy consumption and lower energy bills.The Program was developed by the Government of the Republic of Moldova with the financial support of the European Union.

The program was launched last fall. It is implemented by CNED, with the support of the Ministry of Energy, and is financed from the state budget and from sources allocated by external partners. During the two sessions of the program last year, 7,220 households received vouchers of up to 7,000 lei to exchange their old equipment for new energy-efficient ones that would allow them to reduce their energy consumption.

The program was designed to reduce energy poverty by supporting in particular families with many children, the elderly and those with special needs by giving them access to modern, energy-efficient household appliances. By replacing old, energy-guzzling appliances, beneficiaries make significant savings on their energy bills in the long term, experts say.

According to the CNED, the total estimated savings from replacing old and energy-efficient household appliances with new energy-efficient ones purchased under the program will amount to about 4 million lei per year. This, equals an annual reduction in the electricity bill of about 550 lei for each household that benefited from the voucher.

In 2023, the pilot program Rabla for household appliances was implemented in the Republic of Moldova, through which several citizens received vouchers for the replacement of old household appliances. It had a budget of € 5.8 million and was developed with the financial support of the European Union and implemented by UNDP Moldova.