The Green Households project will be fairer. In Green Solidarity, we will provide support to low-income households of up to 90% of eligible costs

The Ministry of Economy (MH) will modify the Green Households project, which supports the installation of renewable energy equipment - biomass boilers, heat pumps, solar collectors or photovoltaic panels - to make it fairer. The share of more than €50 million guaranteed by the previous Slovak government for the Bratislava region out of a total of €150 million will be adjusted by the department to resources comparable to the rest of Slovakia. This process will take several weeks. It will then be possible to start reimbursing vouchers to people from the Green Households project for the Bratislava region and the rest of Slovakia. At the same time, the Slovak Ministry of Economy and the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency (SIEA) introduced a new and higher form of support for low-income households called 'Green Solidarity'. Under this project, low-income households can apply for support of up to 90% of eligible costs.

"Our goal is to help Slovak households reduce their energy costs while supporting the installation of renewable energy equipment. We now have a unique opportunity to help low-income households that cannot afford to invest in modern equipment even with the standard grant. We are preparing preferential conditions for them. At the same time, we will also change the distribution of funds in the Green Household Program, because the way it was set up by the previous government was unfair," said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Denisa Saková.

Green households:

The previous government of the Slovak Republic decided that more than 50 million euro of the Green Households project should go to the Bratislava region, which is about one third of the total project budget. The other seven regions were left with a total of only €100 million, an average of about €14 million per region. Moreover, the interest in this form of support in the Bratislava region is not as high as in the rest of Slovakia. According to preliminary registrations, around 1,500 applications worth EUR 4.25 million have come from the Bratislava region. From other regions of Slovakia, SIEA registered a total of more than 12,000 applications worth about EUR 35 million.

Immediately after the project and funds are distributed, the state will begin the phased activation and reimbursement of the vouchers. The distribution process will take several weeks and is expected to begin in July. The Ministry of Economy apologizes for the delay to households awaiting installation.

Green solidarity:

The Ministry of Economic plans to introduce special support for low-income households in the third quarter of 2024. The state will provide a higher level of support for these households. While the standard contribution under the Green Households project can cover a maximum of 50% of the installation costs, it can cover up to 90% of the costs under the Green Solidarity sub-project in the case of preferential conditions.

As in the Green Solidarity project, households can choose from 5,300 technically compliant installations and use the services of up to 1,570 eligible contractors registered in the Green Households project for the installation.

Who is eligible for low-income support

For the purposes of this project, a low-income household is defined as the owner of the property and anyone who has been a registered resident of the family home at the installation site for at least 12 months prior to applying for the grant. Households with a proven net income equal to or less than the threshold are eligible for the advantageous grant. This is based on the definition of the Statistical Office according to the EU SILC methodology, which sets the upper limit of the poverty risk distribution at 70% of the national median equivalent annual disposable income. Households with disabled card holders are also included, for which the income threshold is set at the median level. Household income and other eligibility conditions will be verified by the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency in cooperation with the state authorities.

Households that meet these criteria but have already applied for a Green Household allowance are advised not to apply for these vouchers and to wait for the announcement of the Green Solidarity project.

Disposable income

Disposable income for this purpose is the amount of income of all household members for the last completed tax period, taking into account pension benefits, miners' compensation, income from employment and income from business and other self-employment after taxation and deduction of compulsory social and health insurance contributions. It will be possible to calculate the annual net household income threshold thanks to the forthcoming income calculator on the website www.zelenadomacnostiam.sk

Press department of the Ministry of Economy SR