This one's for the residents of Gazi Baba wondering how to heat their home next year without gutting their budget. This year again, the municipality has opened a public call for pellet-stove subsidies, which will reimburse citizens up to 50 percent of the purchase cost, but no more than 30,000 denars per household.

Applications are already open, and the deadline runs until 30 November - or until the allocated funds are used up, which usually comes sooner than the deadline. Precisely for that reason, anyone actually planning to replace their stove would do well not to wait until the last moment. Calls like these in Macedonia's municipalities have a habit of draining the money quickly, so those who drag their feet end up empty-handed.

The idea behind the subsidy is twofold - to ease the burden on households, but also to encourage cleaner heating instead of the old methods that poison the air. And air pollution in Skopje in winter is no trifle; it's one of the biggest health threats to the city. Every stove less that smokes with oil or bad fuel is a small victory for the lungs of the whole neighbourhood.

Still, it's worth being realistic. A 30,000-denar subsidy helps, but it doesn't cover the full price of a quality pellet stove, nor the cost of the pellets themselves, which get pricier every winter. The measure is a step in the right direction, but the real battle with air pollution demands far more than one municipal call once a year. Until then, whoever is eligible - apply on time.