Posted on : 10/30/2018

The first meeting of the Network of energy managers and energy efficiency (EE) liaison officers was held in the small hall of the National Parliament of the Republic of Serbia on Tuesday, 9 October 2018; the meeting was jointly organized by the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with support of the Ministry of Mining and Energy.

At the session held on 27 June 2018, the Presidency of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM) passed the Decision on establishment of the Network of energy managers and EE liaison officers. The network was established so as to extend support to membership through continuous monitoring of development and implementation of regulations in the area of communal energy, energy efficiency, and renewable energy sources, to support experts in practice of implementation of regulations on local level, as well as for the purpose of exchange of knowledge and experiences between energy managers and professionals in local administrations who are involved in topics in the given areas.

Besides support to energy managers and professionals in local self-government units, the Network also involves in its work other professionals in public companies and other forms of organizations who perform activities of general interest in the areas of public sector energy, energy in buildings, and industrial energy, so as to extend comprehensive support to all forms of energy management and energy efficiency on local level.

All currently appointed energy managers from all three categories (public sector energy, energy in buildings, and industrial energy) were invited to the meetings, as well as EE liaison officers from local self-government units. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Mining and Energy and UNDP.

The participants were first addressed by Đorđe Staničić, SCTM Secretary General, who informed them about the work of networks within SCTM, as well as the commitment to extend continuous support to introduction of the energy management system on local level, which was also laid down in the Strategic plan. He emphasized that in organizing its key operations (comprising representation of LSU interests before national bodies, provision of services to members in terms of advisory support and capacity development, information, etc.) SCTM largely relies on work of its networks. According to the SCTM Articles of association, networks are established by the decision of the Presidency, which defines the scope of competences, composition, and other issues important for work of these bodies. The decision also gives the Secretary General the authority to pass an act to regulate work and develop specificities of individual networks into more detail. The network of energy managers and liaison officers for energy efficiency is somewhat specific as it also gathers appointed persons who are energy managers in accordance with the Law on Efficient Use of Energy, as well as all those colleagues who treat the issue of communal energy in their local self-government units who are not energy managers in the sense of the Law. Because of this, but also because of the very important moment for establishment of the functional system of energy management in which some 50% of LSU which are designated to this system have appointed energy managers, the Secretary General passes the decision to regulate the work of the Network more closely so as to encompass all the given specificities. Đorđe Staničić added that for SCTM it is exceptionally important that future work of this network is based on expertise of its members on the one hand, and on experiences in terms of this type of organization on the other. Beside this, cooperation with the Ministry of Mining and Energy as the competent Ministry is of exceptional importance, as well as cooperation with all other domestic and international institutions and organizations. In these terms, SCTM and this network will remain a reliable partner both to the Ministry and UNDP and other partners in future too.

After the Secretary General, the participants in the meeting were also addressed by Professor Miloš Banjac, Assistant minister of mining and energy. He emphasized the importance of cooperation with SCTM and said he expected the network in future to be an important instrument for exchange of knowledge and information, and a fast and reliable communication channel between the Ministry and the appointed energy managers. In his speech, he mentioned several important matters, first of all that the Ministry, within the working group established for the purpose, prepares amendments and additions to the Law on Efficient Use of Energy. The amendments relate to harmonization with EU legislation primarily regarding energy labeling, but also with practices in our country; thus, energy supply contracting should find its place in the amended Law. Professor Banjac informed the present members of the network that the Ministry works on increasing on the amount of funds for the Budgetary Fund for Energy Efficiency, but that it also invests efforts that this fund becomes a separate legal entity which would only extend support to energy efficiency projects in terms of financing. In the end, the Assistant minister pointed put that the Ministry is developing an inspection supervision plan for local self-government units which also implies field visits as part of inspection, to determine whether provisions from the Law related to the energy management system are implemented in designated LSU, and to what extent. In these terms, he emphasized that the Ministry, with whole-hearted support of the UNDP Project “Removing Barriers to Promote and Support Energy Management Systems in Municipalities throughout Serbia”, through training sessions and development of new IT solutions and tools, tries to facilitate utilization of the Energy Management Information System (EMIS) , i.e. to ensure automatic entry of data from suppliers of energy, such as distributors of gas, thermal energy and PUCs for water supply.

In the last part of introductory presentations, the participants in the meeting of the Network were addressed by Maja Matejić, UNDP Portfolio manager for energy. She also emphasized the importance of cooperation between the Ministry and SCTM, as well as the role of the Network in connecting of relevant actors in the area of the energy management system. In these terms, she emphasized the willingness of UNDP to support activities of the network in the course of the project “Removing Barriers to Promote and Support Energy Management Systems in Municipalities throughout Serbia”. Maja Matejić added that through the given project UNDP works intensively in 29 municipalities and two cities, Kragujevac and Pančevo, on introduction of the energy management information system. She added that the mentioned tools for automatic entering of data on energy and water consumption are being developed, and that they are in the stage of testing in Pančevo and Kragujevac.

In the working part of the meeting, the position of the energy manager in job systematization in local self-government units was discussed. Within this item on the agenda, the participants were addressed by Dragan Urošević, UNDP Project coordinator, who gave examples to explain current possibilities and practices in appointment of energy managers. Following this, Ana Radojević, Energy manager of the city of Kragujevac, presented the example of good practice of the city of Kragujevac in which the energy manager has the function of assistant mayor; also, besides the manager, there is a whole department for energy efficiency with six more associates working on these issues. The two presentations were followed by a lively discussion, in the course of which energy managers state their own positive and negative experiences.

Following the discussion, the participants were addressed by Antonela Solujić, head of the Department for energy efficiency with the Ministry of Mining and Energy who delivered a presentation of the current state of development of the energy management system in Serbia, with a separate overview of specificities of introduction of the system in local self-government units. She also imparted the information on further development of EMIS, which should, with development of analytical modules, also make it possible for participants to create partial reports and annual reports in future, which would considerably alleviate the work of energy managers. The development of the system will also imply development of the data base of energy efficiency indicators. She also emphasized that the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Belgrade is the authorized training organization, but also that it was UNDP which provided significant support for training of energy managers, same as in the case of training for end-users of the EMIS.

The meeting was concluded by the presentation of the decision on the rules of work of the Network of energy managers and EE liaison officers. The Decision was presented by Miodrag Gluščević, Network coordinator and head of the SCTM Department for utility issues, town planning, and environmental protection. He informed the participants about the possibility for the work of SCTM networks to be more closely regulated by decisions of the Secretary General, which is a form of standing orders on the work of the network. In the case of the Network of energy managers and EE liaison officers, the Decision on rules of work was necessary due to the specific composition and activities conducted by individual network members. The Decision defines membership within the Network, its scope of competences, functioning, and organization of work, as well as the manner of communication and exchange of information.

According to the Decision, members of the network are energy managers in local self-government units (municipalities, cities and municipalities), public utility companies, and public buildings, appointed in accordance with the Law, as well as EE liaison officers for energy efficiency LSU.

Work within the Network is conducted in a single manner for all members or through thematic or functional sessions: 1) Section of energy managers in local public administrations and EE liaison officers; 2) Section of industrial energy managers, and 3) Section of energy managers in buildings. The section comprises all Network members who are interested in the area covered by the Section.

The Network and Sections are managed by the Network coordinator who is appointed by the Secretary General among employees within the Secretariat. The Network determines the Action plan on annual level. The Action plan determines the dynamics of meeting of the Network and individual Sections, as well as the topics the Network, i.e. the Sections, will treat. Meetings of the Network are chaired by the Network coordinator. In agreement with the coordinator, and upon proposal of the Network, meetings may also be chaired by a member of a Section. Results of the work of sections are the results of the Network. Besides meetings, the work of the Network also comprises regular communication between the coordinator and members, and among members. Use of the Internet in everyday communication is a priority.