On 27 October, Center-Invest Bank made its first loan under its new programme Energy Efficient Housing and Communal Services. The recipient of the RUR150,000 loan was the Kirova 2008 Housing Cooperative. The funds were used to install a heat meter in Building No. 62 on Ulitsa Kirova in the town of Gelendzhik. With the new metering equipment, the residents will be able to reduce their heating bills by up to 60%.

The cost of installing the meter will be recouped in three months, and thereafter each flat will enjoy a saving of 500-600 rubles a month.
This energy efficiency project was made possible thanks to Center-Invest Bank's new programme, Energy Efficient Housing and Communal Services.  Under this programme, we will provide housing cooperatives and management companies with loans for energy-efficiency purposes, including: installing metering systems (heat, water and electricity meters for whole blocks of flats), energy-efficient windows and various types of automatic equipment, winterizing and repairing walls and roofs, and repairing pipes.
“Center-Invest Bank plans to invest 300 million rubles in making blocks of flats more energy efficient,” says Aleksandr Kalinich, manager of Center-Invest's main branch in Krasnodar. “With this sum, we will be able to lend to approximately 500 housing cooperatives. A distinctive feature of our programme is that it can be either the housing cooperative itself or the management company that takes out the loan. To obtain a loan with a term of up to five years, the decision of a general meeting of the members of a housing cooperative will suffice.”
In the words of the head of the Kirova 2008 Housing Cooperative, “Center-Invest Bank took just two days to agree our loan. We managed to install the heat meter before the start of winter, and now we can reduce our heating costs considerably and protect ourselves from energy price rises in the future.”
Center-Invest Bank's experience of introducing energy efficiency programmes in the Southern Federal District shows that projects designed to cut energy costs can generate savings of up to 70%. At present, per capita water consumption in Russia is two to three times higher than the average in Europe, while heating one square metre uses five times more fuel than in Europe. This is due to obsolete fixed assets, deficiencies in construction and building materials, and a lack of water, heat and gas metering equipment.
The Energy Efficient Housing and Communal Services Programme will enable people living in southern Russia to improve their housing conditions and reduce the cost of communal services.