May 21, 2019
With Home Savings, you can increase your home’s energy efficiency levels to minimize your expenses.
The co-funded program of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change “Home Saving”, which provides incentives for beneficiaries to make significant interventions to improve the energy performance of their home, is now known to all. The number of applications for the program exceeded 38,000, which indicates the great interest of the citizens in this. The aim of the Home Savings program is to identify the energy needs of buildings and the necessary interventions that will maximize the energy saved. At the same time, it contributes to the country’s energy and environmental goals, ensuring at its completion energy savings of up to 1 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year.
In which buildings interventions can be made
The program foresees the subsidization of energy saving interventions in buildings that:
First application approvals in the Home Saving Program
According to the Ministry of the Environment, Public Works and Public Works, the first 2,215 applications of citizens for the energy upgrade of their homes were approved. The cooperating banks have begun to alert citizens to the signing of the relevant contracts and the disbursement of advances, while a second energy audit is required to disburse the entire budget. The list of names of the first Beneficiaries is on the NBG website. Ann. (formerly TEMPME) www.tempme.gr. Of the 38,000 applications filed with the Banks, 18,600 have received a loan pre-approval, of which 8,000 refer to completed files that are in the final stage of the approval process.
How do you benefit from the program?
If you want to take advantage of the program and energy upgrading your home, here is a quick guide that will help you in your first steps to join the program.
Stage 1: Preparation
The first thing that every individual wishing to participate in the program should do is to check whether they meet the income criteria and whether the apartment building or the individual apartment can be considered an “Eligible Residence” (both issues are explained in the first part of the article ). If the person concerned finds that he / she fulfills the conditions for his / her participation in the program, he / she addresses one of the Energy Inspectors of the Ministry (the full list of inspectors can be found at www.buildingcert.gr), so that the First Energy Inspection of the property / of the building. Based on the inspection, some factors will be identified, such as the energy class of the building, the interventions proposed, the savings to be achieved on the basis of the interventions, the cost and, finally, the issue of the First Energy Efficiency Certificate. Upon completion of the first energy audit and the issuance of the relevant certificate, the interested party, in cooperation with the energy inspector, shall select the interventions to be included in the application and shall jointly complement the Intervention Proposal Form (available at exoikonomisi.ypeka.gr). Bids are received from the respective suppliers and technical garages, in accordance with the interventions decided by the energy inspector.
Stage 2: Control and approval
All the aforementioned documents, along with some others, as appropriate, such as a police ID, building permit, paycheck, responsible statements, etc., are presented to a respective contracting bank where the applicant also submits the application for membership . Then, checks are made on the completeness of the dossier and the possibility of joining the program on the one hand by the bank and on the other hand by the National Entrepreneurship and Development Fund. Finally, following further bureaucratic procedures and controls carried out by the NBG If approved, the approvals and entitlements of the beneficiaries, which are invited by the banks to sign the loan contracts, are decided.
Stage 3: Implementation of Interventions – Strengthening
Amount Following the signing of loan agreements, the terms of which are set out in detail in the Co-financing and Co-Investment Agreement between ETEN. SA and the Bank, as well as the Loan Agreement between the Bank and the Beneficiary, the Beneficiary is given the opportunity to disburse 30% of the budget of the project that concerns him. It follows the implementation of the interventions, the disbursement of the total loan and the reimbursement of the expenses, which must be completed within four months from the signing of the loan agreement. More details, clarifications, exclusions and information at exoikonomisi.ypeka.gr
Beware of the details
– No more than one application for the same apartment building can be submitted under the program. Applying more than one application for a block of flats leads to the rejection of all applications. In other words, either an individual apartment per apartment building or the entire building is included.
– The eligible budget per application may not exceed € 15,000, including VAT.
– Expenditure incurred after the issue of the EAP. covered by the program, provided that the application has been approved. Work carried out until the application is approved is carried out under the sole responsibility of the beneficiary
– The materials and systems to be used for the interventions should bear energy certification and CE marking.
– Owners of apartments not included in the program (for example because they do not meet the income criteria) in a building that is part of the program participate in the implementation of declared equity operations.
How much does it cost
The cost of the inspection is calculated with the square meter:
Typically, however, it does not exceed 20% of the total architectural and engineering study fee.
Building Energy Performance Regulation
The rapid change of the country’s energy policy and compliance with EU requirements has led, among other things, to the adoption of the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulation. The regulation is something like an “energy identity” for buildings and has been in force since 9 January 2011. Its aim is to upgrade the country’s energy buildings by promoting some interventions to make them more environmentally friendly and less damaging to their maintenance.
When does it need?
KEN.AK is not only necessary in new constructions, having replaced the heat insulation study but also the existing ones that are to be exploited. Each apartment / building that is to be built, rented or sold needs to have its “energy identity”: the “Energy Performance Certificate of a Building” for the existing constructions to be exploited and the “Energy Performance of Buildings Study” building permit in new buildings. The Energy Performance Certificate applies to all buildings with a total surface area of more than 50 m². and in all buildings of the public and wider public sector. It includes, inter alia, the results of the energy inspector’s assessment and recommendations for improving the energy performance of the building so that consumers can compare and assess their actual consumption and potential for improving energy efficiency. Issuing the certificate is mandatory.
The Energy Efficiency Study of Buildings refers to:
(a) meeting the minimum requirements of the building with regard to its design, building shell and electromechanical installations; and
(b) in comparison with the ‘reference building’. Reference building is a building with the same geometric characteristics, location, orientation, use and operational characteristics as the building under consideration, but which meets minimum standards and has defined technical characteristics.
How is the energy inspection done?
The desired reduction of pollutant emissions from buildings is achieved in two ways. Initially, protecting the building shell by reducing energy losses and then by equipping the mechanical part of the building with less energy-consuming appliances (burners, water heaters, boilers, etc.). The above objectives are achieved in the first phase through the Energy Inspection, which is carried out by one of the 417 private Energy Inspectors who are included in the Register of Energy Inspectors of the Ministry of the Environment and Waters. The inspector is an important tool for diagnosing the energy situation of existing buildings and the potential for improvement, which is achieved through the inspection of the building and its classification in Energy Class. The categories are as follows: A +, A, B +, B, C, D, E, G and H. All new studies will be mandatory to be evaluated in energy efficiency class B and above. Existing studies will be extremely difficult to evaluate in Category B unless they receive interventions before being evaluated. Whatever the rating does not require any category improvement – at least for the moment – by KENAK.
