€400 boost for insulation

IF YOU intend carrying out energy-saving renovation work on your French home you may be eligible for a little-known cash boost which may give you back €400 for insulation work or €300 for a new boiler.

Consumer group CLCV found that an energy-saving measure introduced in 2005 has been greatly under-used – only 4% of projects have benefited – and that people were missing out.
It has linked with energy firm GEO plc to open up the savings to the wider public by offering a Prime Cash Energie scheme.

It covers work such as loft and wall insulation or buying and fitting an efficient condensing boiler or heat pump or solar heating system. Fitting doubleglazing or buying an efficient A+ washing machine are also covered but on a lower scale.
Examples include: insulating the walls of a 100m2 oil-heated house could draw a payment of €750, or €450 for a house with electric heating. Buying a condensing boiler for an 80m2 home could be worth €270.

The work must not already be started and has to be carried out by a professional. This scheme is open only to CLCV subscribers – with a subscription costing €30 a year.

It is based on the system of Certificats d’Economies d’Energie (CEE) introduced in 2005 whereby energy suppliers such as EDF and GDF-Suez are each year supposed to make energy savings equivalent to a proportion of their sales.

CEEs have a monetary value and suppliers, in effect, buy them from those doing works to meet their quota of energy savings.

However, the suppliers typically offered the few households taking part money-off vouchers for future projects: a €300 voucher costs them much less than its face value. The prime is paid in cash.

Works benefiting can also get supplementary aid from other energy-efficiency schemes.

Find out more about the prime and how to apply at www.primecashenergie.com

The website takes details of the planned energy-saving project, the size of the property and then shows the potential prime.