The energy ministry is working on a new energy efficiency subsidy program for homes and businesses to be offered alongside a new round of the ‘Saving At Home’ program, scheduled to be launched in June.

Unlike the ‘Saving At Home’ subsidy program, the new energy efficiency program will be based on a competitive procedure whose aim will be to maximize energy cost savings per euro in subsidized support, energypress sources informed.

Aggregators – major-scale construction firms or enterprises specializing in energy efficiency technologies – will be able to participate in descending-price auctions. The winning bidder will then reach out to households and businesses and take on the task of maximizing energy cost savings for eligible parties through a range of options.

A total of 36 million euros is available for the prospective program. A fraction of this amount is planned to be offered within 2019 for a pilot program intended to spot and correct any problems ahead of a full-scale launch.

The overall effort remains at a preliminary stage. One of a variety of competitive procedures that have already been implemented in other parts of Europe will be picked after these are fully surveyed.