Italy’s 110% Premium Bonus Plan Urges Increase in Green Home Renovations | Italia

For years, people living in Castelnuovo di Porto, a medieval village near Rome, put off doing maintenance work in their homes, whether it was to fix the roof or cracks in the walls caused by earthquakes, because they couldn’t afford it. So when the Italian government said it would pay the full bill for a raft of renovations, with the sole condition of making the buildings energy-efficient and earthquake-resistant, they couldn’t believe their luck.

“When I first heard about the government getting all this money from the European Union, I didn’t think it would affect me at all,” said Chris Ward-Jones, an Italian-born British photographer. “But when the people of the village started talking about building houses—and there is so much that they need to do here, and a few of them show their age—our ears clenched and we thought: Wait, can we do that too?”

Thousands of Italian and foreign homeowners have flocked to Italy’s generous 110% bonus scheme, which has so far cost the government around €21bn (£17.5bn) since it was launched in July 2020 as part of the country’s post-pandemic recovery strategy.

As the name implies, homeowners are entitled to a tax credit of up to 110% on the cost of upgrading their home, such as installing insulation systems, heat pumps, and solar panels, replacing an old boiler, or doing work that reduces the risk of damage from seismic activity.

People can claim the subsidy by subtracting business costs from their tax returns over five years, transferring the liability to a building contractor, who subtracts them from their taxes or selling the credit to a bank, which in turn is refunded by the government. Additional 10% covers bank interest.

The scheme applies to businesses in single homes or buildings with more than one home, although in these cases permission from other homeowners is required.

Warde-Jones teamed up with four co-owners to do several jobs on their 18th-century stone house totaling more than €200,000, including replacing the roof.

“It was kind of a nightmare from the standpoint of organizing four different families, but we got there,” Ward Jones said. “It hasn’t even started yet, but the bureaucratic side of things is going well.”

Many other EU countries have home improvement subsidy schemes as they work towards reducing carbon emissions targets, but none are as abundant as Italy. Some say the subsidies, the vast majority of money that comes from the EU’s Post-Covid Recovery Fund, are too generous, calling the move a “shock tactic” to make the system work in a country with a huge stockpile of old or bad. constructed buildings.

He certainly achieved it. As of March 1, more than 122,000 applications have been approved.

Said Ricardo Fracaro, MP and senior member of the Five Star Movement who suggested the super reward first. “This was a way to motivate individuals and companies to do so.”

Fracaro points to the scheme’s success so far, such as the immediate boost to the construction sector and GDP and the creation of more than 150,000 new jobs.

However, higher demand has also driven up the cost of construction services, although Fraccaro said the government has now capped raw material prices, leaving the limited supply of contractors able to do the work booked until the end for at least a year. And while the initiative hampers illegal activity as the credit can only be claimed through tax returns, the Italian tax agency found 950 million euros worth of fraud linked to super bonuses and other home improvement schemes late last year.

“As with everything, there is always someone trying to be cunning, but the fraud inside the super bounty was minimal, like people creating fake building sites,” said Fracaro. “We are making the system much stricter, even though the super reward is very difficult to defraud as many requirements and technical checks are required before support is approved.”

Another issue is time constraints – the initiative will be gradually scaled back before it expires in 2025. However, the main question is whether the super reward will have the desired effects.

The scheme is commendable and most needed, especially with buildings in Italy that consume an enormous amount of energy, said Michele Goveratori, of the Center for Climate and Energy Research Echo. “It will definitely lead to improvements, although it’s too early to say much,” he said.

His main criticism is that the subsidy allows for new gas boilers and, eventually, the continued use of fossil fuels. “If you replace the old boiler, adding certain efficiency parameters, with a gas coefficient, you can also get a tax deduction. But this is a mistake that must be corrected immediately, we need to use electric heat pumps and gas separation. “

Fracaro said many households had already been cut off from gas and that the initiative in the long run would significantly reduce dependence on fuel, especially in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Italy relies heavily on gas imports from Russia and, like other European countries, is now scrambling for alternatives.

In Castelnuovo di Porto, Sergio Iaquinta, co-founder of Aiku Srl, a coalition of architects, is engaged in 13 mega-building renovation projects, including the Warde-Jones House and its neighbours. Yaquinta also benefits from the scheme on his own property. He said it was carried out in a chaotic manner, and more so at first, but he believes the mess is worth it.

“We have already seen the results of the insulation work, with customers calling us to say they noticed a difference right away,” he said. It also helps raise awareness of the climate crisis and environmental needs, which are among the most important things. “

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