French third-party financing companies and their partners join forces and create the SERAFIN association
Initiated by the Regions and Metropolises, the third-party financing companies provide integrated solutions to homeowners and condominiums for their energy renovation projects.
In the beginning of 2022, they join forces with three partners to amplify their action at national level. The objective is to contribute together to the massification of global and ambitious energy renovation of housing in France.
Ile-de-France EnergiesThe Serafin association was founded by :
- La Régie Régionale du Service public de l’Efficacité Energétique (SPEE) of the Hauts de France Region
- Ile-de-France Energies
- Bordeaux Métropole Energies, which develops its offer under the brand FaciRénov
- Oktave in the Grand Est Region
- Centre-Val de Loire Energies
- The Regional Energy and Climate Agency (AREC) of the Occitania Region with its Rénov’Occitanie service
- Effinergie, the public interest association for the construction and renovation of low-energy buildings, which holds the BBC label
- Energies Demain, a consultancy specialising in territorial public policies on energy, climate and quality of life, which coordinates the European ORFEE project, which has helped to create the SERAFIN association and aims to make it their resource centre
- Pouget Consultants, a building and thermal engineering firm involved in the evolution of the rules of the renovation profession
The six Third-Party Financing Companies, founders of the SERAFIN network, are public or semi-public organisations offering integrated technical, financial and support solutions for the energy renovation of housing.
These solutions, which drastically simplify the renovation process for households, make efficient renovation accessible to all. Their activity is part of the services provided by “Mon Accompagnateur Renov’”, which is currently being defined by the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
To date, the SERAFIN members have carried out the efficient renovation of 6,000 homes, representing an investment of €132 million, and they have issued 1,300 loans for a total amount of €40 million.
In 2021 alone, SERAFIN carried out 7,100 pre-project studies and 1,720 complete, high-performance renovations, representing an investment of €27m. These figures are rising sharply, and should continue to do so over the next few years.
The work carried out or started by the SERAFINs resulted in energy savings of 20 MWh of final energy per year on average for single-family homes, and 6.5 MWh of final energy per year per condominium unit. In 2021, they represented an average cost of €42.5 k for single-family homes and €23.4 k per flat in condominiums.
The SERAFIN network’s indicators show that the integrated service packages have a real impact on the market, stimulating and guiding it towards global and ambitious renovations.
Ready to accelerate
The SERAFIN association is ready to make an important contribution to scaling up deep energy renovations. However, the association notes that the “eco-PTZ” (the French ‘eco-zero interest loan’) and “Mon Accompagnateur Rénov” (‘My Renovation Support’), two important public schemes, are currently not completely open to third-party financing companies. Consequently, SERAFIN is asking for:
– the extension of the distribution of eco-PTZs (individual and collective) to all third-party financing companies authorised by the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) to make direct loans.
– the real opening of the “Mon accompagnateur Rénov'” programme to all third-party financing companies. The terms of application of the “Mon accompagnateur Rénov” scheme, defined in the decree of the application of article 164 of the Climate and Resilience law, prevent certain third-party financing companies from entering the scheme even though their current offer naturally fulfils its roles and missions.
