EDF to provide €240m in grants to help home-owners and firms switch to electric
Money will be available for installing heat pumps and buying electric vehicles
Applicants are not required to be EDF customers to be eligible for a grant
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Energy supplier EDF will be offering €240 million euros to help lower-income households and small businesses to move to heat pumps (pompes à chaleur) and electric vehicles.
This comes as part of a wide-scale push to lower the country’s dependence on fossil fuels.
“As we are celebrating our 80th anniversary today [April 8], we have decided to put €240 million on the table – three times €80 million – to help people in France switch to electric and benefit from these prices,” said EDF CEO Bernard Fontana during a televised interview with FranceInfo.
This €240 million budget will be divided into three equal parts:
€80 million to install heat pumps via €1,000 grants for 80,000 lower-income households. This money can be combined with existing support schemes such as MaPrimeRénov' and coup de pouce CEE.
€80 million for lorry drivers - €30 million to purchase 2,000 electric lorries (an average grant of €15,000 per vehicle, limited to two per company) and €50 million to install 180 new charging points across France within the next three years.
€80 million for “industries that require electricity” such as data centres, specifically for buying power transformers.
These initiatives come after the government pledged in early April to use some of the additional tax revenue generated by soaring fuel prices to fund the “electrification” of France’s economy.
“Because electricity in France is competitive, reliable and low-carbon, it enables you to boost your purchasing power or improve your competitive edge, emit less CO2 and replace fossil fuels,” states EDF.
Who is eligible?
People who fall into the aforementioned categories can visit the site jepassealelectrique.fr for further information.
Note that you do not need to be an EDF customer to be eligible for a grant.
Heat pumps
Applicants must be replacing a gas or oil-fired boiler with an air-to-water or water-to-water heat pump in a property located in mainland France.
Applicants must also be a member of a household with a modeste or très modeste income, as defined by the MaPrimeRénov' income thresholds (see table on the EDF site).
This Connexion article goes into more detail.
Electric lorries
Applicants must own a fuel-powered HGV registered in mainland France and be looking to replace the existing vehicle with an electric one, provided you have a charging point or will arrange for one to be installed.
The grant covers the purchase or rental of two new electric vehicles per business and is not available for converting existing fuel-powered vehicles.
What is the application process?
The official launch date of this initiative has not yet been announced however on the EDF site you can click the button Je souhaite être recontacté(e) and leave your contact details for future confirmation of your application.
At this point, you will receive an email inviting you to register on the EDF platform and submit your grant application, including any supporting documents and receipts.
The grant will be paid once the supporting documents have been verified, including proof of income where necessary.
