The Department of Energy has partnered with the Intelligent Energy Association to fight energy poverty. But the state institution does not know how many households are isolated, and they are only now beginning to count them. In addition, the relevant minister, Sebastian Burduja, appealed to Romanians and companies to donate the necessary money.

Minister of Energy Sebastian Burduja (center) and President of the Intelligent Energy Association Dumitru Kiselice (right))Photo: Hotnews

“Together with the Association of Intelligent Energy, we will create an electronic national register and a map of households that do not have access to the electricity network, and we will turn to civil society and all Romanians, to the private sector, everyone has adopted a house and turned on the light for these Romanians. This is a public call, it is the choice of each company to respond or not,” the minister said at the press conference.

He was asked how many unelectrified houses there are in the country.

“In 2018, the Ministry of Energy conducted a study, there were 52 thousand houses there. (Online publication – no) NewsEnergy.ro did a new study and there were 100,000 homes. (…) We will do this study and the map we talked about, and in six months I will have an exact figure. The last numbers I saw were 100,000.Mr. Chisăliță?”, Burduya answered and passed the floor.

“Yes, there is a 2018 study of 52,000 unelectrified homes, and there is public information about 100,000 unelectrified homes. The sad thing is that we don’t know exactly how many there are, and to solve the problem, you first need to know what the problem is. Then detailing on the ground is needed,” said Dumitru Ciselice, president of the Association of Intelligent Energy.

Beneficiaries will be selected based on income and distance from access routes and sources of supply.

In the short term, for this winter, the Ministry has announced a campaign asking Romanians to donate firewood for at least 1,000 households.

“The program will target all Romanians who want to get involved and companies to do the right thing and donate. If they normally sent donations of clothes, toys, etc., they could send wood for heating this winter. More than two-thirds of Romanian homes do not have access to heating sources other than firewood,” Burduja said.