Suspension of MaPrimeRénov': after the shock of the announcement, the sector fears knock-on effects

"I've been in the industry for 20 years and we've seen quite a few firecrackers of this type (...), but this is going too far," Peter Lehmann, a heating engineer in the Hautes-Alpes region, told AFP.

In his company, which employs nine people, 90% of the business is related to energy renovation. "It's huge," and he fears "catastrophic impacts in terms of employment."

"We trained, we invested to be able to carry out renovations, we passed all the necessary qualifications since 2005 and now everything has stopped," he laments.

Hugues Sartre, co-founder of the company Homyos, which specializes in comprehensive home renovations, is currently seeing "a rush to complete applications" and send them out before the office closes.

"Then we are heading towards a period of 3 to 6 months without commercial activity, which means the start of 2026 without construction activity, so a 10 to 12 month period of a drop in activity," he anticipates.

The same anxiety is felt by the head of a company specializing in electric ventilation and heating systems, based in the Manche region, who declined to be identified. His business had already been slowing down since February, and his order book was empty as of July. "I'll end up calling the accountant and laying everyone off," he told AFP.

The government announced the suspension of the MaPrimeRénov' program this summer and expects that new applications will be able to be submitted "by the end of September." This pause applies to new applications for assistance for comprehensive renovations and individual renovation projects.

Rémi Perrot, a 25-year-old lawyer, bought a 19m³ studio in Paris in February, which he considered an energy drain. "I finally submitted the complete application for MaPrimeRénov' last week, after three months of work."

Now he hopes to be able to obtain the estimated 14.000 euros in aid, otherwise "I will have to finance the entire 28.000 euros with a bank loan" and complicate his financial situation.

"Terrible" for the poorest

Construction is a sector that is slow to restart. "If the window reopens in September, it will postpone projects until 2026, so we'll sacrifice the second half of the year for businesses. And small businesses don't have the cash available to last six months," warns Louis-Clair François Poncet, founder of the SATEP SME network, which specializes in building decarbonization.

"It's a shame because recently we've started to see quite a few" energy renovation projects, says Mehdi Ben Atia, director of Isodeco, an interior renovation company based in the Paris region.

His company is not very dependent on MaPrimeRénov', but he notes that "there were quite a few large projects that could be carried out using grants." "You can't find customers willing to invest" 30.000 euros in insulating their homes on every street corner.

This is one of the fears of Manuel Domergue, director of studies at the Foundation for Housing for the Disadvantaged: that energy renovation, which "only affected the rich" before the increase in state aid for low-income households, will once again only be accessible to high incomes if the state "cuts aid."

"This decision, which affects the poorest, is terrible," confirms Peter Lehmann.

Schemes like MaPrimeRénov' are "long-term schemes: between the time a family decides to renovate their home or a condominium decides to start work, there are several months of administrative paperwork, work, expert appraisals, and studies," notes Christophe Ferrari, president of the Grenoble metropolitan area and vice-president of Intercommunalités de France, responsible for housing.

"This requires stability among stakeholders," he said. A need shared and reiterated for several years by the entire industry. This hasn't stopped the government from amending the MaPrimeRénov' rules "14 times in four years," according to Olivier Salleron, president of the French Construction Federation.

On a social media group, a "slightly angry" internet user no longer has "confidence": "I'm going to leave the system and try to do the work myself."

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.