2022-03-01
National Audit Office: reducing energy consumption and losses is the most reliable way to reduce the cost of district heating
The National Audit Office carried out an assessment which analysed whether the current development of district heating ensures a reliable supply of heat to consumers at a competitive price. The assessment was carried out on the basis of data from the Lithuanian Heat Suppliers Association and the State Energy Regulatory Council covering statistics for 2014-2020. Comparable data for the 2021 period are not yet available, but the public information available in recent years has been taken into account in the assessment of developments.
Investments in renewable energy sources have allowed the rapid replacement of fossil fuels into biofuels, which, according to 2020 data, account for 75 % of district heating. This allowed to reduce heat prices for consumers in many municipalities. However, in Vilnius district, for example, only about 3 % of district heating is produced using biofuels and heating costs are the highest in Lithuania.
More than half of the municipalities have not updated their special plans for heating for 7 years or more. Therefore, in the future, when further planning to increase the use of sustainable renewable energy sources and the connection of new customers, it is necessary to ensure proper investment planning, reliable thermal energy supply and reduction of its consumption.
Lithuania has almost 3 000 km of heat supply routes, of which, according to the Lithuanian Heat Suppliers Association, almost 541 km were renovated or newly built in 2014-2020. About 15 % of the energy produced is lost on heat routes each year, while in some municipalities this loss amounts to 27 %. Loss of energy on the routes is unavoidable and it is impossible to eliminate them completely (e.g. in Scandinavian countries they represent on average 12 %), but in order to ensure reliable and high-quality heat supply to consumers at the lowest cost, it is necessary to keep these losses as low as possible.
Heat bills are mainly influenced by the amount of heat consumed, which may vary several times due to the energy efficiency of buildings in the same city. About 75 % of district heating is consumed by multi-apartment buildings, most of which (around 83 %) are still energy inefficient. The National Audit Office stresses that, as energy efficiency requirements are tightened, the modernisation of the entire building stock and the modernisation of their heating systems must be accelerated in order to make buildings energy efficient and reduce heat bills by reducing the amount of thermal energy consumed.