2017-2020
National
Homeowners’ associations and individual homeowners.
Methodology: Ministry of Energy and Environment
Financial operations: Hellenic Fund for Entrepreneurship and Development
Energy inspectors – doing applications on behalf of homeowners
~€700 million
Public funding – ERDF and national funds from the National Strategic Reference Framework 2014 – 2020
Financing: Grants up to €25,000 combined with interest-free loans
40-100% (own funds or interest-free loan)
None; changes implemented to enable access for low-income households
Flats, blocks of flats and houses
1. Replacement of windows
2. Installation/upgrade of thermal insulation
3. Upgrading of heating/cooling system
4. District hot-water system using renewable energy sources
Annual primary energy saving higher than 40% of the energy consumption (kWh/m²) of the reference building for categories 1 and 2 (households with annual income of less than €25,000 or individuals with annual income of less than €15,000) and correspondingly, 70% for the rest.
The interested party submits their application electronically to the information system of the official web portal of the programme at exoikonomisi.ypen.gr.
If the interested party wishes to use a project consultant for the application process, they enter the details and authorise the consultant to fill in the necessary details for the application. Full details available at: exoikonomisi.ypen.gr/bemataylopoieses
Saving at Home II is the continuation of a programme under the same name, which ran until 2016. Although the programme subsidises the same types of intervention, it is designed to overcome the deficiencies of the first one, mainly related to heavy bureaucracy, limited access of low-income households, and low levels of energy savings. As before, the programme was co-funded by the ERDF and national funds from the National Strategic Reference Framework 2014 – 2020. However, in the second programme the loans were issued by the Hellenic Fund for Entrepreneurship and Development, and not by private banks. Furthermore, the maximum budget for renovation per house/apartment was
increased to €25,000 and the condition regarding the objective property value was removed to increase the pool of potential applicants. In the second programme the income thresholds were split into seven categories as shown in the table below.
According to a recent topical publication, the overall objective and strategies on the anticipated benefits of energy saving were received with scepticism and deemed unambitious. According to the Buildings Energy Efficiency Regulation, the outcome of an obligatory energy-efficiency upgrade by at least one category lags behind the outcome deriving from “near-zero energy buildings”.
It is also claimed that as buildings with low energy performance are applying, rather than reference buildings, the real energy savings are closer to 15-20%. A relevant share of the interventions happened in multi-family buildings, but this does not necessarily mean interventions in the building envelope. The renovation works were practically done inside the apartments and not in the common spaces, and contained change of windows, change of heaters, inner insulations and upgrading the hot water production system.
Corovessi et al. confirm that given the fact that combating energy poverty is a clear objective in the national energy and climate plan, the drafting of a specialised programme for building renovation is necessary. In their opinion, the proposed programme should accommodate the needs of households that do not fall into one of the subsidy eligibility income brackets and are thus excluded from the current schemes. Special care should also be provided for large families and single-parent families – especially female single-parent families. In order to effectively safeguard citizens from energy poverty, a “deep” energy efficiency upgrade of residencies should be promoted, together with support for implementation of renewable energy technologies.
Community Tailored Actions for Energy Poverty Mitigation in the CEE and CIS region
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No #892054.
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