Local Energy and Climate Counsellors

Country / jurisdiction: Sweden · Year: 1998 · Status: In force · Level: National · Type: Voluntary

Since 1998, state support is provided to municipalities that offer energy counselling services. The purpose of the support measures is to facilitate the spread of objective information about energy supply, energy distribution and energy consumption in order to lower the use of electricity. The counselling is directed at the general public, enterprises and local organizations. In addition, regional energy offices coordinate and support the work of energy counsellors.

As of 1 February 2008, the statute on support to municipal energy counselling was amended, extended the counselling service to include climate counselling. The role of the energy and climate counsellors was also clarified, in order to ensure their work is impartial and free from commercial interests. With the new statute on support it is also possible to work with the municipality own building stock should the municipality partly finance the counselling. The amendment also extended counselling services to small and medium-sized enterprises.

The basic amount of money given to each municipality increased from SEK 225 000 to SEK 280 000 per year, while additional amounts are the same as earlier. Energy and climate counsellors follow training provided by the Swedish Energy Agency. Currently (2016) there are energy counsellors in all of Sweden's 290 municipalities. In addition to this, there are 14 regional energy offices, coordinating the activities of the individual municipal counselors.

Official source: http://www.energimyndigheten.se/en/