Electricity prices have risen significantly this winter as well. But it's not enough to heat our home, so each of us pays a penny per kilowatt-hour to Enova on our net rental bill. In total, Norwegian electricity customers paid Approximately NOK 693 million to support Enova In 2023.
In return, we get support for single-use actions. But the support is not reaching the heads of the people who need it, says Gro Hoog from Ås.
– Those who don't have the money to pay electricity bills during the day also can't afford all the wonderful single-use measures, says Hauge to Nettavisen.
-We will not get the money back.
Because it is not simple measures such as extra insulation and heat pumps, which effectively reduce the need for heating in the home, that people can get support for. Enova's mission is to build a market for new Monoculture technologies, then phasing out subsidies and finally ending subsidies.
That is, they do not support regular air-to-air heat pumps, which reduce energy consumption easily and effectively, but e.g.
In 2023, Enova paid NOK 582 million to households for single-use measures, spread across approximately 34,000 projects.
Energy Advisor: – Should have a social profile
Energy consultant and Managing Director Stian Øygardslia at Kraftkar Energi in Ål says that the Enova support does not get enough strength.
– Innova's approach to supporting plans for energy saving measures is broadly based on the market's need for stimulation, says Oygardslija.
He points to the heat pump subsidies that people were previously able to get subsidies to purchase.
If Enova had been founded to actually stimulate the market in the direction of reducing energy consumption, it would have supported this technology.
Øygardslia believes that those who need it most do not have the opportunity to purchase a heat pump.
– Those who need a heat pump most are often the ones who unfortunately cannot afford one. For older homes, retrofitting, for example, can involve a much greater cost without necessarily yielding as significant a climate benefit as air pumps for heating air. Enova should definitely reconsider this support system.
-Will the social profile on Enova Support be relevant?
– The social profile in all support plans would make climate measures accessible to those who need them most.
– As mentioned, Innova wants to stimulate the market. Larger measures such as power wells Water-borne heat provides significant environmental benefits in the form of energy savings. However, these measures are by no means possible for everyone. Perhaps I fear that these measures will help make the differences even greater.
Øygardslia also sells heat pumps.
Energy costs have been brutally reduced
But if you have the opportunity to start major actions, you can actually significantly reduce energy costs.
Karin Peskov Lindberg experienced this with her family, buying a 200-square-meter house in the 1960s in Baerum. It was cold and windy, and it took 52,000 kilowatt-hours per year to operate. But the household is more concerned than average with energy and energy saving. Peskov Lindberg is Associate Professor of Energy System Analysis at NTNU with specialized expertise in energy saving specifically. The family embarked on a radical renovation using all available measures. Total renovation costs came to just under NOK 1.4 million.
From Enova, they received NOK 190,750 to support Enova. After the renovation, the electricity bill for the whole of 2022 was NOK 178.
The house received an additional winter jacket in the form of insulation, triple pane windows, a rock heat pump, and portable water heating, all topped with solar panels.
We produce about 10,500 kWh of electricity annually, of which we sold 7,300 kWh in 2022. In addition, we purchased 8,400 kWh, for which electricity was subsidized. When the year ended, we had a total electricity bill of NOK 147.
Peskov-Lindberg believes that Enova support constitutes a very small part of the total investment needed to reduce depreciation in Norway's building stock.
If subsidies are to be able to stimulate potential saving, higher subsidy rates are needed, she says.
Ensuring that a home uses less energy has an impact beyond one's wallet.
– Scientific has calculated that we could save about 20 TWh of building mass by 2050 if we re-insulated and reconstituted water-borne heat using a geothermal heat pump. This equates to 15% of Norway's total electricity consumption, and is roughly equivalent to what the entire Oslo region uses over the course of one year.
If our homes use less energy, less new electricity production will need to be developed.
-We can avoid building more production and electricity lines, avoid building more nature, and people will have lower electricity bills. The most environmentally friendly kilowatt-hours are the ones we don't use.
Byskov Lindberg has good advice for those who want to make their homes more efficient.
– Obviously not everyone has that kind of money to spend. Not everyone can do everything at the same time as we did. Therefore, it is extremely important to make the right long-term choices along the way and do it right. For example, re-insulate when you change the cladding, or add hydronic heating if you are laying new flooring.
It is better to add energy support
The Ministry of Climate and Environment owns Enova. But in politics, there is not currently all to gain.
Parliament Representative Mathilde Tibering-Gedde (right) is a member of the Energy and Environment Committee. I told Nettavisen that we should follow two paths. Households should receive support for so-called mature technology (eg, heat pumps, editor's note).
– Enova's role is primarily to support unprofitable technology so that the price of the technology is reduced so that more people can purchase it. But the Conservatives also suggested some one-off support for more mature technology should be provided. For many people, receiving energy subsidies will be better than electricity subsidies. Strömstoten also says he has no social profile.
At the same time, Tybring-Gjedde says the Conservative Party helped allocate NOK 100 million to Husbanken.
– We thought that we should have a separate scheme for low-income people who need help to raise their energy level. Housing Bank is a better place for social arrangements. Enova should also support both companies and households with mature and immature technology. We must have two thoughts in our heads at the same time.
The Financial Recovery Plan believes that support should go to supporting cost-effective measures.
– Most of it goes to support various technological developments in the climate field. Zero-emission construction sites and the like. The mandate should be reversed so that they once again support effective and cost-effective single-use measures in housing, business and industry, Storting representative Marius Nielsen (Frp) tells Nettavisen.
– I changed the order – to build
State Secretary Ragnhild Sjoner Syrstad (Ap) Nettavisen told Nettavisen that they had already made a change in the allocation of Enova support. But it goes to housing associations and condominiums.
– Enova has created a new arrangement that allows the use of more mature technology. It's simple: first you get a subsidy for energy mapping and then you get a subsidy percentage for appropriate investment in that house based on what the mapping recommended. It is technology neutral and will help give the building a better energy rating.
Enova is considering whether this scheme could be adapted to single-family homes as well, if the energy card scheme is improved so that it is easier to measure the results of energy efficiency efforts and give a subsidy percentage accordingly, Seerstad says.
Want to save electricity
But Gro Haug on Ås is ready to upgrade and replace its oven anyway.
-Give me a big chunk of jamb and then I'll replace the furnace, but before you can do that the jamb is gone. I thought it was there so that those who could initiate single-use measures could do so. Help us save electricity,” says Hogg.
“Explorer. Unapologetic entrepreneur. Alcohol fanatic. Certified writer. Wannabe tv evangelist. Twitter fanatic. Student. Web scholar. Travel buff.”
