A plan for renovate condominiums older, those 50s-70s high-rises built hastily during the boom years. A 5 billion "token" to set in motion the redevelopment works on an area that could affect 12 million properties, according to Confedilizia estimates. The lockpick to accomplish all of this? L'energy efficiency and ecobonus which allow 65% of the expenditure to be recovered from Irpef over ten years. The days go by, the Budget Law is approaching, the signs are growing that predict new measures in the package that the government is preparing for 20 October. But which could also be defined with separate provisions, for example in connection with "Casa Italia", the project to secure the Italian real estate assets. It is a question of revitalizing the market which, in addition to traditional investments, can take advantage of new emerging businesses, also recovering those unspent resources, such as the 900 million euros of the Thermal Account, or those still blocked, such as the 70 million euros per year year of the National Fund for Energy Efficiency. A detailed proposal was drawn up by theAeneas and it is on the table of the ministers concerned: we talk about it with the president Federico Head.
The government, with the Deputy Minister of the Economy Morando and the Minister of Infrastructure Delrio, has announced its intention to extend the tax deductions on energy efficiency and, indeed, to broaden their impact. In particular, news on condominiums is coming: why?
“Let's start from the concrete experience of recent years. He taught us that the ecobonus tool works well but it was mainly used to replace old boilers and fixtures with more performing systems and windows. The former accounted for about 28% of the inventions made, the latter for about 67%. Furthermore, it was realized that families have invested their money in individual dwellings, houses or villas or apartments, and not in buildings as a whole since not everyone is able to anticipate spending or have the necessary fiscal space to deduct new efficiency expenditure. In short, a whole set of factors now recommends making a leap in quality by focusing on large numbers and more incisive and structured interventions: for this we need to involve the condominiums and extend the works to the insulating "coat" of the entire building and the attics. These are more expensive interventions but which also ensure the most consistent and lasting savings ".
Enea's proposal provides for the possibility of transferring the credit represented by the 65% tax deduction. The measure was also envisaged by the 2016 Stability Law precisely to push the condominiums to move, but it didn't work. Why? And how should the new mechanism brought to the attention of the government improve the situation?
“As I told you, the current mechanism requires the availability of a sum to be advanced in order to then take into account a return in 10 years. This cuts out many elderly people or young people who have no cash. And blocks decisions in the condominium for problems related to differences in income, age and size of the apartments. This is why we think that the solution is to work on incentives that are not only deductible but also transferable. It completely changes the perspective”.
Transferable to whom? Can we explain it with some concrete examples?
“The eco-bonus is guaranteed by the state, so the return is certain. For this reason it becomes useful to sell it: for example to those who provide the loans, such as banks or Escos, companies that offer energy efficiency services to optimize interventions. The same utilities such as Enel, Acea, A2A and so on can come into play, which have every interest in retaining customers, especially in view of the definitive liberalization of the sale of energy in 2018.
The other innovative, more financial, aspect concerns the possibility of setting up a Fund that brings together public entities, such as the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, and private entities, such as pension funds. The Fund could start with an endowment of 4 or 5 billion. It would advance the resources and then retaliate on the 65% bonus. The remaining 35% would be recovered by households through future energy savings. And a mechanism such as the Rai license fee in the bill cannot be excluded”.
How much can you save with this type of surgery?
“We have calculated that it is possible to save between 50 and 60 percent of the energy bill, the greater the older the building is. Let's take the case of a condominium of 40 apartments with a total intervention of 600.000 euros, equivalent to 15.000 euros per apartment to build insulating coats, fixtures and boilers. 65% is transferred to the lender who will recover the bonus: we calculate 9.000 euros less interest. 6.000 euros remain. Well, the savings obtainable on the bill is estimated at around 900 euros a year or half of the average expenditure of an Italian family. So in just over 6 years the family recovers the expense and finds itself with a revalued property. What's more: the private individual could only advance 10% of the expense, i.e. 1.500 euros, because the rest could be paid in installments in the same bill. Today, companies that sell electricity and gas already offer a number of additional services, from insurance to shopping vouchers. Energy efficiency is typically an additional service and companies have an interest in retaining their customers for ten years: with the next liberalization it is estimated that no less than 4 million households will change supplier. And they will also choose based on these spending-enhancing services.”
So, in summary: agreements with lenders, agreements with suppliers, all of this can set condominiums in motion. But for the State it means making 2 billion available a year, it has been calculated. There are? The Budget Law must take into account the available resources….
“It is true that the 65% deduction entails, on the one hand, a lower income tax revenue for the State. But on the other hand it helps to get the economy back on track with repercussions on the building industry and on the companies manufacturing the systems, it brings out the informal sector and acts as a driving force on VAT. So the exchequer then recovers the money it invests. The investment in energy efficiency also leads to the qualification of the companies in charge of the works and their aggregation and, combined with the anti-seismic interventions, it reduces the cost proportionally”.
Could energy efficiency and Casa Italia walk together? What concrete possibilities are there that the project will be able to get off the ground? Italy is also committed to the 20-20-20 agenda of the European Union.
“Enea works to define and make feasible an operational proposal, in the belief that it represents an opportunity for the country. We have so far seen real interest from Minister Delrio, the Deputy Ministers Morando and Bellanova and Palazzo Chigi. Naturally, the last word belongs to the government which is responsible for the final decision”.
