New Green Savings has been extended to December 20

Prague - The state has extended the deadline for submitting applications for grants from the New Green Savings program for the reconstruction and insulation of family homes. Applications can be submitted no later than noon on December 20 of this year, or until the funds are exhausted. As of today, there are still 80 million crowns left in the program's account, which had one billion crowns available. Originally, applications were supposed to be accepted from mid-August until today. This was reported today by the spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment, Matyáš Vitík.
    According to the Ministry of the Environment, the funds have not been exhausted because some applications were rejected due to formal deficiencies, for example, when applicants did not submit all required documents. The ministry claims that there is great interest in the program and that if all applications were accepted, the support would have already been exhausted.
    Those interested who still do not manage to submit an application can participate in the follow-up program of the same name starting in January next year. This program is expected to provide grants totaling an estimated 27 billion crowns by the year 2020.
    The Ministry of the Environment expects to raise about two billion crowns in the first phase from the sale of emission allowances. "These will again be intended for comprehensive renovations of family homes. The new two billion in the program will insulate up to eight thousand family homes and provide jobs for approximately five thousand employees in various fields," said the Minister of the Environment, Tomáš Jan Podivínský.
    The call for the New Green Savings 2013 focuses, for example, on insulation, the construction of family homes with very low energy requirements, and the effective use of energy sources, the replacement of heat sources with solid fuels, or environmentally friendly sources. The amount of the grant depends on how much applicants save from their investment.
    The first Green Savings program from 2009 to 2012 managed a budget of 21 billion crowns and supported high-quality insulation and new clean heat sources in at least 150,000 households. However, it was not sufficient for all applicants, and disputes were also resolved regarding some rejected applications.
    The current program has also faced criticism. At the start of the program, for example, critics pointed out the lack of qualified professionals who are authorized to conduct energy audits. Builders were unhappy with the continually postponed announcement date of the program and its launch only in August; construction companies and insulation material manufacturers claimed it would only help them in the next season.
    For instance, the director of Chance for Buildings, Petr Holub, also pointed out the amount of money the government has allocated for the New Green Savings program. "Similar programs, which help families move to energy-efficient housing, could effectively utilize even ten billion annually,” Holub stated at that time.