Parma, Italy
3 strongest incentives motivating Parma citizens to energy renovate their homes
The ultimate goal of the Municipality of Parma in Italy
is to reduce energy cost and energy poverty of the households on its
territory while improving their quality of life. Beginning of the next
year will be marked by the launch of a set of incentives and
accompanying measures that shall motivate citizens and local businesses
to energy renovate their buildings.
Energy System Research (RSE) in collaboration with the Ministry of
Economic Development carried out a study on the building stock of the
Municipality of Parma that consists of 18,671 residential buildings and
80,595 residential units. Via a survey targeting citizens, they also
examined the main financial and non-financial barriers to energy
renovation of the private building stock.
Decision-making process of condominiums is perceived as the biggest
obstacle, followed by lack of financial resources. In condominium it is
difficult to reach an agreement satisfactory for all owners. In this
regard, the municipality notes the importance of involving the
condominium managers as main partners and intermediaries in the internal
decision-making and promotion of energy efficiency measures.
Citizens have also expressed the need for incentives that would
encourage them to implement energy efficiency measures. Three incentives
are perceived as the most motivating: energy bill reduction, tax
deduction and the price of energy. Free energy audit also obtained quite
a high score.
Moreover, 63% of respondents found the incentive in the form of soft
loans very important. Among participants who attributed positive
evaluation to this financial instrument, 66% would accept a 0% interest
loan, while a share of 34% would be willing to pay at most a 2%
interest.
Municipality has developed an action plan that shall remove the
identified barriers and introduce incentives mobilising private
investments. It will:
- Set up an Information Desk for citizens and consumers associations.
-
Support Condominium Administrators at technical committees - informing
them about benefits of energy efficiency measures and providing
technical assistance for planning and implementation of energy
efficiency measures.
- Delegate management and evaluation of energy audits to Parma Energy Agency.
- Create standardised models for energy audits and energy performance contracting.
- Launch an expression of interest targeting local banks – future partners of the soft loan scheme.
The University of Parma has been evaluating and benchmarking two business model scenarios of the future soft loan scheme:
- Loans are provided by local banks and the municipality creates a dedicated guarantee fund.
-
Loans are provided by local banks and the municipality is subsidizing
the preferential interest rates or manages to negotiate reduced interest
rates by creating competition.
The scenario where the municipality allocates part of the municipal
budget to a revolving fund and then provides direct loans to
beneficiaries was very soon excluded. It became clear that the
municipality will not be able to allocate sufficient budget and human
resources for management of such a revolving fund. This should be the
role of a future partner bank for whom it is a core-business to manage
the loans.
The municipality has already contacted and discussed the idea with 6
financial institutions and banks (incl. Fondazione Cariparma, Crédit
Agricole) and discussed the possibility to create a regional guarantee
fund with the representatives of the Emilia Romagna Region.
The University is also studying possible economic and social impact
of the scheme on the Municipality of Parma. A methodology that provides
for the assessment of the social return on investment is under
development.
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