Croatia sets EUR 25 million in incentives for energy poor households

Croatia has earmarked EUR 25 million for households at risk of energy poverty. They will use the funds for the energy renovation.

The subsidies for households at risk of energy poverty are part of a EUR 652 million package for 2025 launched by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition and the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund (EPEEF or FZOEU). The incentives will be used for renewable energy sources, decarbonization of the district heating system and road traffic, and waste management.

The fund launched a public call for expressions of interest in using subsidies for energy efficiency measures.

Energy poverty is an increasingly important issue because the number of affected households is rising. They are struggling to cover the bills for electricity, gas and heating as the energy transition and energy crisis lifted prices.

Many governments have introduced measures to fix the issue. For example, Slovenia has adopted an action plan for the reduction of energy poverty, which foresees almost EUR 34 million for measures in the period 2024-2026.

Croatia adopted the definition of energy poverty this year

Until this year, Croatia had no official definition of energy poverty. It was included in the changes to the law on energy efficiency.

The legislation defines an energy-poor household as one that doesn’t have access to basic energy services to ensure a basic standard of living and health.

The requirements are suitable heating, hot water, cooling, lighting, and energy to power household appliances. There is a combination of causes of deficits in the said segments. Among them are weak purchasing power, insufficient income, high energy costs, poor energy performances of buildings, and low energy efficiency, according to the public call.

FZOEU invited citizens to fill out a questionnaire and send photos

A European household is said to be at risk of energy poverty if it spends more than 10% of its income on energy.

The funding scheme for natural persons is for measures and investments in energy efficiency and decarbonization of heating and cooling at family houses.

FZOEU seeks to receive information from citizens through questionnaires and photo documentation. The aim is to help the body define the details of a public call for granting subsidies, scheduled to be issued by mid-year.