PLF 2025: proposals from the thermal industry to relaunch the energy renovation of buildings

"The manufacturers gathered within Uniclima are well aware that the State budget is not extensible and that a delicate balance must be found. However, Uniclima remains convinced that investing in energy renovation is beneficial in more ways than one because it supports the manufacturing of equipment that is mainly French and creates non-relocatable jobs within SMEs of installers and maintenance companies present throughout the country. This investment also improves the comfort of life of households, particularly the most modest ones who cannot undertake this work without public financial support, and finally, achieves France's decarbonization objectives" reacts Stanislas Lacroix, President of Uniclima and spokesperson for 70 HVAC industrialists representing 87 factories in France and 23.500 jobs alone.

Sources of concern

As things stand, several measures envisaged in the project presented to the National Assembly risk being counterproductive.

Raising the VAT rate on boilers to 20% will slow down the replacement of old boilers with more efficient equipment (THPE or other). In many situations, households that have to replace their broken boiler have no other technical alternatives than to install a THPE boiler, which will immediately generate energy savings and decarbonization. This is therefore a double penalty for these households. Furthermore, it is not the boilers that are carbon-intensive, but the fuel used. With the rise of biofuels (biomethane and biofuel F30 to F100), gas, including fuel oil, is therefore evolving towards decarbonization and current boilers are already compatible with all these fuels. It would be appropriate not to penalize boilers but to encourage the transition to a biofuel in cases where it will be difficult to use other equipment.

Furthermore, it seems difficult to understand that low-carbon heating and domestic hot water production solutions, such as heat pumps, are on the one hand promoted, and on the other, heavily penalized with the end of the tariff shield on electricity on February 1, 2025, or even with increased taxation. Indeed, this increase would penalize the heat pump market, already down by more than 46%, and continue to cast uncertainty on the industrial investments to which Uniclima members have committed as part of the 1 million PAC Plan.

MaPrimeRénov' an essential tool to relaunch renovation

According to the draft finance bill presented, the subsidy paid by the State to finance MaPrimeRénov', the main public aid for the energy renovation of housing, will amount to 2,3 billion euros in 2025, compared to 3 billion in 2024 after the 1 billion cut at the beginning of the year. This is therefore a return close to the 2023 budget (2,1 billion) which corresponds to the reality of the credits committed in 2024.

For Camille Beurdeley, General Delegate of Uniclima: "We understand the government's logic in the current situation of reducing the overall envelope of MaPrimeRénov' 2025 to the level of 2024 expenditure. But to the extent that the budget consumed in 2024 reflects a very clear halt in the renovation markets, manufacturers fear that this level will remain insufficient to succeed in reviving activity, even if we are also pleased to have been heard on maintaining eligibility for aid for simple renovation actions, which are essential for achieving carbon neutrality objectives by 2050."

Uniclima's 3 proposals to relaunch the renovation market

In this context and faced with these challenges, Uniclima's manufacturers are thinking with all of their partners in the professional sectors and are proposing to the government 3 concrete measures adapted to the field on which to work to successfully revive the energy renovation market:

• Create a "Certificate of Conformity for air/water heat pumps", a tool already known to professionals and which has proven itself in other areas (such as gas). This certificate would simplify procedures, reduce fraud, speed up the payment of aid to individuals and restore confidence. The objective? To simplify the multitude of current, redundant and sometimes even inconsistent controls through a single, effective control.
• Create a fund dedicated to renovation to reduce the “outstanding cost” of households, based on the savings of the French and ultimately on ETS 2 (Energy Trade System) resources, and managed by banks or financial organizations which would issue loans at a preferential rate (or even at zero rate for the most modest);
• Simplify existing aid systems (MaPrimeRénov', Energy Savings Certificates) by ensuring their stability over the year 2025, and by opening a broad consultation with the sector from the beginning of 2025 in order to study avenues for simplification and efficiency.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.