Several important problems are associated with heating of housing in Lithuania. Residential heating is heavily dependent on fossil fuel, combustion of which contributes to air pollution and atmospheric build-up of carbon dioxide. Subsidies from the State budget to maintain the residential heat price at a below-cost level declined in recent years, but are often still substantial. Eliminating subsidies for heat is politically difficult. Many households face difficulty in paying their heating bill, which has risen greatly in real terms in the past five years. The problem is amplified since most households in apartments are billed on the basis of their floor area, not on real heat consumption. The magnitude of the above problems is heightened by the inefficient manner in which energy is used to heat most residential buildings.
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