98 Energy Management Coordinators in the Federation of BiH Trained in Developing an Energy Management Organization Chart

April 1, 2019

Workshop for energy management coordinators

In order to provide clarification of, and instructions for, development of an Energy Management Organization Chart for all levels of government in the Federation of BiH, the Environmental Protection Fund of the Federation BiH, in partnership with the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Industry of the Federation BiH, supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and GIZ, organized workshops for energy management coordinators.

Under the Energy Efficiency Law of the Federation BiH, the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Industry of the Federation BiH approved in January 2019 a Rulebook on the Energy Efficiency Information System (EEIS) of the FBiH. The Environmental Protection Fund should establish and manage this single information system consisting of independent internet platforms with applications and databases. The EEIS should facilitate data collection, energy and water consumption and savings in implemented energy efficiency projects.

Ermin Hardaus, senior specialist for energy efficiency and access to the EU funds in the Kakanj Municipality, who participated in the workshop, said that “the EEIS is extremely important for monitoring of not only consumption but also savings in consumption of electricity, water and energy from all other sources, required for the functioning of a public institution”.

Ermin Hardaus, senior specialist for energy efficiency and access to the EU funds in the Kakanj Municipality

The EEIS Rules require that data possessors at all levels of government – the Federation, cantons and local authorities – appoint energy management coordinators who are most responsible in the energy management system at a particular government level. Their primary duty is to establish an Energy Management Organization Chart, each within his or her purview. Hardaus said that “the guidance received at today’s workshop will facilitate the development of an Organization Chart so that everybody understands what needs to be prepared, and help us, who have already delivered our charts, to improve them, if necessary”.

The goal of the workshops is to ensure a harmonized approach of all levels of government in the BiH Federation and to establish a functioning Organization Chart for the entire area as well as horizontal and vertical linkages and communication among all energy management coordinators in the Federation of BiH.

In order to further motivate users to feed the data into the Energy Management Information System (EMIS), which is a part of the EEIS, Mersija Talic, assistant minister for the environmental protection and utility affairs at the Una-Sana Canton Environment Ministry, said that “219 public buildings within our Canton are registered in the EMIS. In order to stimulate our users to enter the data into the system on a regular basis, the Government issued back in 2014 a decision making entry of data on energy consumption into the EMIS mandatory. Unless users enter the data on a regular basis, they will be deprived of some funds like, for example, those allocated by our Ministry from the revenue of an environmental charge levied by the Environmental Protection Fund of the Federation of BiH.” 

Mersija Talic, assistant minister for the environmental protection and utility affairs at the Una-Sana Canton Environment Ministry

Elvis Hadzikadic, manager, UNDP’s Green Economic Development Project, said that “It was our pleasure to organize a two-day workshop for the first energy management coordinators in the Federation which drew numerous participants, more than we had initially expected. The establishment of an Organization Chart within the EEIS will provide all levels of government in the Federation with the necessary tools which will help them monitor systemically the fulfilment of the goals through Action Plans, energy consumption and savings, as well as technical systems, which will facilitate better planning, monitoring and reporting at all government levels in the Federation”.

The workshops took place on 28 March and 01 April, 2019 at the UN House, Sarajevo. The workshops were attended by 98 representatives from 69 local authorities, nine Cantons and the Joint Services Unit of the Federation of BiH.