The Government steps up the fight against fraud in the energy renovation of buildings

The Government is stepping up its action to prevent, stop and sanction fraudsters in the field of energy renovation. In a context of mobilization of unprecedented resources to accelerate the renovation of buildings, in particular housing with more than €5 billion programmed in the budget of the State and its operators in 2024, the strengthening of the fight against property fraud renovation is necessary to protect households while ensuring the proper use of public money.

One of the main levers for achieving our climate objectives, the energy renovation of buildings, and in particular housing, is a priority for the Government. In 2024, the resources devoted to aid for the energy renovation of homes will increase significantly to reach an unprecedented level of 5 billion commitments, i.e. €1,6 billion more than in 2023.

Strengthening the fight against energy renovation fraud is the counterpart of this rise in power.

Several tools and actors are used to detect, stop and sanction renovation fraud. Safeguards have been put in place, for example to prohibit telephone canvassing in the energy renovation sector, and control programs of a complementary nature are carried out each year. In total around 170.000 checks were carried out in 2022 and gave rise to administrative or even criminal sanctions. In 2023, faced with the detection of new fraud schemes, controls were maintained at a high level and their targeting was adapted to changing practices.

With the dual objective of protecting the French and ensuring the proper use of public money, the Government has announced structuring changes in the allocation of aid to limit the risk of fraud:

Since June 1, 2023, any request for MaPrimeRénov' financing relating to an energy audit must be accompanied by a request for MaPrimeRénov' financing relating to the work. The fraud scheme involving the carrying out of false audits is thus controlled.
As part of the overhaul of aid for energy renovation, an obligation of support by a “Renovation Supporter”, approved by the ANAH, is put in place for the most significant aid.
The activity of financial agent will be more supervised from 2024. The PLF for 2024 (article 50) therefore plans to require stronger financial guarantees and a prior declaration to Anah. The managers of agent companies convicted of fraudulent schemes may be directly sanctioned.

The State's resources in the fight against energy renovation fraud will be further strengthened around three areas of action:

On the one hand, consumer protection will be further increased. The DGCCRF workforce will be doubled from 2024 (+24 jobs). Furthermore, the implementation of the anti-scam filter, one of the flagship measures of the bill to secure the digital space, will make it possible to better protect our fellow citizens by neutralizing malicious cyber and phishing sites which usurp identity and signs. visuals of public services dedicated to energy renovation in order to extract sensitive personal data or generate payments without compensation.
Controls will be more numerous, better targeted and more transparent. 10% of MaPrimeRénov' files and 12,5% of CEE aid files will be checked on site in 2024, compared to 7 to 8% today. The rate of checks by contact (email or telephone) will increase by 20% in 2024 then 30% in 2025. These checks will focus in particular on large-scale renovations, in line with the priority given to these operations as part of the construction project. finance law for 2024. Furthermore, state services will be able to further target their controls thanks to the strengthening of ANAH's IT tools and the systematization of information sharing and reporting as part of the mission. interministerial anti-fraud organization (MICAF). Finally, the reliability of controls will be improved, in particular by strengthening the independence of companies responsible for controlling work financed by energy saving certificates.
The arsenal of tools available to state services will be strengthened. Access by the ANAH to the bank account file will thus make it possible to better detect fraud and will be supported by an amendment to the PLF 2024. Other measures will take place in 2024 to strengthen the sharing of information or, for example, allow the suspension of the payment of public aid in the event of suspicion of organized fraud.

The entire Government is thus mobilized and determined to step up the fight against energy renovation fraud.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.