Campaign to encourage Belarusian households to consume more electricity continues

MINSK, 20 December (BelTA) – Efforts to encourage more households to use electricity for heating, hot water supply, and cooking continue. Belarusian Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich made the relevant statement in BelTA's press center on 20 December.

The Council of Ministers has determined the potential increase in electricity consumption by the real sector of the economy and has approved a multisectoral complex of measures to increase electricity consumption by 2025, including by implementing investment projects. Its realization will increase electricity consumption by 2.7 billion kWh per annum by 2026. It will be achieved through the modernization of existing manufacturing facilities and the establishment of new ones.

Viktor Karankevich said the Energy Ministry had adopted a program designed to increase electricity consumption for the purposes of heating, hot water supply, and cooking in 2021-2025. The document focuses on three areas. First, the construction of new housing where electricity will be used for heating and hot water supply. Second, the transition of apartment houses from solid fuel to electricity. Third, the transition of existing single-family houses to electricity for heating and hot water supply. In addition to gasification this work will allow covering a larger number of populated localities for enabling more comfortable living conditions for Belarusian citizens.

Stimulating electricity rates have been introduced at the level of the head of state. A procedure has been worked out to compensate for some of the costs the conversion of a house to electricity for heating, hot water supply, and cooking requires.

These efforts gave a serious impulse to the use of electricity for heating and hot water supply. As a result, the consumption of electricity by Belarusian households rose by 3.3 times in January-November 2021 in comparison with January-November 2020. In the period under review energy providers received 24,400 applications for power supply specifications for using electricity in single-family houses for heating and hot water supply. Of the total 82% or 20,100 applications were granted.

Electricity consumption in the real sector of the Belarusian economy is on the rise as well. In January-November 2021 electricity consumption increased by 1.2 billion kWh thanks to the commissioning of new manufacturing facilities and thanks to the consumption of more electricity by existing enterprises.

The total electricity consumption in Belarus is expected to rise by 5.6% in 2021 to exceed 40 billion kWh, Viktor Karankevich concluded.