With the prices of building materials having gone uphill, the program offers interest-free loans totaling 400 million euros to those who urgently need to proceed with the energy upgrade of their home, repaying them in up to 84 installments until 2032 or 2033.

Beneficiaries of the Program are natural persons who have a real right (full ownership/usufruct/fine ownership) to an eligible residence (main or non-leased secondary), provided that they have not become beneficiaries of any other Energy Upgrade Program that was or is being financed with community resources as of 1/1/2020.

Unlike other similar “Save Money” type programs that require that the property be upgraded in total by three energy categories after the intervention, in the “I Upgrade My Home” program, households can only select the works that they themselves prioritize, without any requirements for evaluating the final energy result.

However, the “fine print” also hides pitfalls, such as whether the property can be transferred in the coming years.

What is financed

The eligible expenses that can be financed with these loans are expenses related to:

· Thermal insulation (internal/external).

· Construction of a green roof.

· Installation of Energy-efficient Window Frames-Glass Panels.

· Installation of a Solar Water Heater.

· Installation of external permanent shading systems (not awnings).

· Installation of a Heating-Cooling system, exclusively by utilizing a renewable energy source or with a high-efficiency electricity and heat cogeneration system (indicatively electric heat pump, inverter air conditioning units of energy class A+ and above).

· Installation of thermostatic control systems.

· Installation of an energy storage system (batteries) from renewable energy sources.

· Installation of photovoltaic plants - small wind turbines and other RES

· Installation work/Technical consultant-Engineer services.

The funding application may concern one or more of the interventions, while VAT is an eligible expense for the Program and is included in the loan amount.

The basic conditions for granting the loan are as follows:

· The loan cannot be less than 5,000 euros and exceed 25,000 euros.

· The property on which the interventions will be carried out must exist legally.

· The amount of the requested loan is determined based on the submitted offers or budget of works or proforma invoices (of materials, services, works included in the list of eligible interventions, by suppliers or contractors or technical consultants/engineers upon submission of the loan application

· Tax documents must have been issued at a time subsequent to the date of inclusion in the program.

· The interventions must have been completed within 18 months from the signing of the loan agreement with the possibility of a 3-month extension.

· The amount of the loan also depends on the assessment of the creditworthiness of the beneficiary, which is carried out by the Credit Institution.

· The repayment period of the loan is set from 3 to 7 years without a grace period

· Partial or total repayment of the loan is allowed at any time before its expiration date, without any penalty or other charge

· The interest rate is subsidized 100% by the Greek State and is co-financed by 75% from loan resources of the Recovery Fund and by 25% from the bank

· In order to secure the loan claim, collateral or real estate will be obtained in accordance with the credit policy of the Credit Institutions participating in the Program.

· In order to secure the loan claim, collateral or real estate will be obtained in accordance with the credit policy of the banks participating in the Program.

· The deadline for joining the Program is December 31, 2025 and for concluding a Loan Agreement is June 30, 2026.

· The transfer of the property is prohibited before the loan is repaid.

· The Program loan cannot be used to refinance an existing loan, while the Program cannot be combined with other energy upgrading Programs financed with EU funds, such as “Exoconomo”.

Source: www.protothema.gr