Published on the platform of the new Economy 2021 programme, by the Ministry of Environment and Energy the Application Guide and its Annexes, paving the way for the start of the applications that households have been waiting for some time in order to finance the energy upgrade of their homes.

The electronic platform for the submission of applications for the participation of house owners in the Save program of a total amount of 632 million. A €1.5 billion programme to upgrade 50,000 homes to improve energy efficiency will open in the 2nd week of December. In particular, as the Guide shows, the opening date for single-family house/individual apartment applications is set for 13 December 2021. The opening date for multi-family applications is set at the 3rd working day after the deadline for submission of detached house / single apartment applications. Costs for building interventions are increasing by 15% due to price increases.

The beneficiaries of the Energy Efficiency 2021 action

Households interested in participating in ExoEconomy 2021 should start preparing their applications now. The A' Energy Performance Certificate is required, which classifies their home in the energy class based on the current characteristics of the property. It is pointed out that the total eligible budget of the works must not exceed 28,000 euros. They have the right to participate in the program natural persons who have a lien on an eligible dwelling.The applicant's lien (full ownership / usufruct / small ownership) must exist in the reference year of the programme (tax year 2020) as when submitting the application. In the event of the existence of several beneficiaries of real rights in an eligible residence:

• If the main use of the requested residence is by one of the co-owners, only the co-owner who owns it has the right to participate.
• If the main use of the residence under application is made by another person who is not a co-owner, anyone with a real right of full ownership / usufruct (not small ownership) has the right to participate, with the consent of the others.
• An energy upgrade application is not accepted for a residence whose real right was acquired after 12/31/2020 (recent property acquisition).
• In cases where, according to the data of the income tax return in the reporting year, the residence is rented or granted free of charge or is vacant, only the full owner or the beneficiary has the right to participate in the program.

Short-term rental properties are not eligible.

Housing subsidy

Within the program there are two distinct types of applications:

1. Application for an individual apartment or detached house.
2. Apartment building application (including apartment applications as part of an apartment building application).

It is pointed out that under no circumstances are the properties of the building that are not used for residence (e.g. a shop on the ground floor of a building) eligible.

The conditions participation in Execonomo 2021

A residence, in order to be considered eligible, must meet the following general conditions:

• Exists legally
• It has not been deemed to be demolished.
• It is used as a main residence.
• It has been classified based on the First Energy Performance Certificate (EPE) in a category below or equal to C.

The expenses

As a date The start date for the eligibility of expenditure for ExoEconomo 2021 is 1 February 2020. Projects are not eligible which, based on the submitted expenditure documents, have been completed in terms of the physical object or have been fully executed up to and including the date of submission of the application. Only the interventions that are completed after the issuance of the 1st PEA can be considered eligible for the program and in any case expenditure must have been incurred from 1 February 2020 onwards.

Categories of interventions

The interventions submitted with the application for inclusion in the "Save 2021" program are based on the recommendations of the Energy Inspector. These relate exclusively to the following categories of eligible interventions:

• Replacement of frames
• Installing / upgrading thermal insulation
• Heating / cooling system upgrade
• ZNX system using renewable energy sources (RES)
• Other savings interventions (smart home, lighting upgrade)

Two types of applications are foreseen:

• Application for Individual Apartment or Detached House and
• Apartment building application (including apartment applications as part of an apartment building application).

Amounts per category

For applications for individual apartments, single-family homes and apartments as part of an application in a Multi-family Building, the maximum grant rate per income category is defined as follows:

• Individual income up to 5,000 euros and family income up to 10,000 euros: the subsidy rate in cases of owner-occupation is 75% and in cases of rental or free concession is 40%.
• Individual income of 5,000 to 10,000 euros and family income of 10,000 to 20,000 euros: the subsidy rate in cases of owner-occupation is 70% and in cases of rental or free concession is 40%.
• Individual income of 10,000 to 20,000 euros and family income of 20,000 to 30,000 euros: the subsidy rate in cases of owner-occupation is 55% and in cases of rental or free concession is 40%.
• Individual income of 20,000 to 30,000 euros and family income of 30,000 to 40,000 euros: the subsidy rate in cases of owner-occupation is 45% and in cases of rental or free concession is 40%.
• Individual income of 30,000 to 50,000 euros and family income of 40,000 to 60,000 euros: the subsidy rate in cases of owner-occupation is 40% and in cases of rental or free concession is 40%.

Application procedure for ExoEconomy 2021

Funding applications are only submitted electronically and must be submitted through the information system of the program's official website. During the application submission stage, it is not required to present a physical folder with supporting documents. When filling out the application, automated electronic eligibility checks are carried out, the registration of the necessary supporting documents, the receipt of the energy data of the 1st PEA, the submission of the proposal with the costs of interventions and other expenses and the initial declaration of the financing scheme. During the application period, the right to cancel and resubmit an application is given. After the end of the application period, the applicant is not allowed to cancel an application. By submitting the application to the program, a unique protocol number is also obtained and the total score of the application is automatically calculated, based on the evaluation criteria of the program. A necessary condition for the submission of the application is the completion of all its mandatory fields.