Help paying for home insulation

Is it possible to get a grant towards insulating my home? F.S.

The Agence Nationale de l’Habitat (Anah) provides grants to people seeking to make their homes more energy-efficient. These are not an automatic right and there is a priority system based on means and the level of urgency (ie. you are more likely to benefit if you home is very badly insulated).

Anah has a (French) advice line on how to apply on 08 20 15 15 15 (15 centimes a minute).

Other avenues include a zero-interest ecoloan (éco-prêt à taux zéro) from a bank, though you have to invest in at least one other form of home improvement as well (our helpguide, priced €5, from our website, goes into detail) or the Credit d’impôt pour le developpement durable (tax credit for eco-friendly home improvements), a rebate which you claim (off your next income tax bill) on your French tax return following the period in which you have the work done.

Note you cannot use both of these schemes for the same work. You can claim a rebate of 22 per cent of both material and labour costs of up to €8,000 for a single person, double for a couple, until the end of 2012. An additional costs ceiling of €150 per square metre of exterior insulation and €100 for interior insulation is also applied.

There is a country-wide network of advisory bodies on all these matters, called Espaces Info Energie. See www.infoenergie.org and click on the map for your area.