Over 56% of the Moldovan families use stoves to heat dwellings

Only 22% of the Moldovan people are connected to the centralized heat supply system and more than half of them do not have a water heating system. These are some of the findings of the Household Survey of Energy Consumption conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics with the support of the Energy and Biomass Project, funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP Moldova), and of the Energy Community.

The survey data will be used to calculate the energy consumption in households and define the consumption breakdown and to create a database for further formulation of energy efficiency indicators.

Alexandre Darras, Attaché-Project Manager of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, welcomed the survey, which will help the design of evidence-based energy efficiency policies. The official stressed that Moldova has a huge potential to use biomass as fuel, and this may lead to increased energy efficiency and comfort for the people for whom centralized heat supply is not available.

According to Alenka Kinderman Lončarević, Energy Community expert, Moldova is one of the three countries that successfully completed a comprehensive survey in this sector.

The Deputy General Director of the National Bureau of Statistics, Iurie Mocanu, said he feels contented with this new statistical tool and that he is hopeful that the data will efficiently inform the decision making in the Government and the private sector.

According to the survey findings, during the research period the total amount paid by the Moldovan people for energy resources (except for natural gas and electricity) was 3.6 billion MDL, including 583.3 mln MDL for liquefied gas, 49.3 mln MDL for briquettes and pellets, 2,300 mln MDL for firewood, 111.0 mln MDL for wood waste. On average, a household that uses fire wood as energy source consumed 3.5 m3 /year, a household that uses coal used 259 kg, while a household that uses natural gas consumed about 567 m3.

The survey covered the period from April 1, 2015 to April 1, 2016 and a sample of 3,500 households.