Title of the measure: FRA43 Social housing eco-loan General

Last update: October 2015
Title of the measure:
FRA43 Social housing eco-loan
General description
The social housing eco-loan scheme (éco-prêt logement social - éco-PLS) was launched in February 2009
to support financially energy refurbishment of social dwellings in the framework of the Grenelle
law. Its amount ranges from €9,000 to €16,000 (an increase of €2,000 can be done for energy
performance labelled dwellings).
This scheme has been strengthened through an agreement signed by the French State and the social union
for housing which targets to renovate the 800.000 least energy efficient social dwellings by 2020
(100,000 between 2009 and 2010 ten 70,000 per year planned initially). The priority was given to
dwellings with low energy categories E, F or G (see “FRA34 Energy Performance Diagnosis (DPE)”
for details on housing energy categories).
In 2013, to renovate the 120 000 dwellings per year by 2017 announced within the framework of the
housing energy renovation plan (Plan de Rénovation Energétique de l’Habitat - PREH), social housing
eco-loans have been made more appealing with the rate reduction and quota increase for energy class
D (from 14,000 to 50 000 dwellings per year).
Social housing eco-loans are managed by the Caisse des dépôts et Consignations (CDC), financed from
the funds saved by French households on the Livret A tax free savings accounts.
2014
From 2015 to 2017
After 2017
Number of renovated
Between 90,000 and
90,000
120,000 per year
dwellings targeted
120,000 per year
Table 1: Distribution of the renovation programme for the entire social housing stock (housing
investment plan- March 2013)
Last updates in 2015

Change in energy performances criterions for individual houses from category F and G : lower
than or equal to 230 or 230*(a+b) kWh/m²/an

Launched of building works programs experimentation (>3years) in 4 French regions. A
national board led by DHUP (Direction de l'habitat, de l'urbanisme et des paysages) will
analyse the call tenders transmitted by social housing organism to establish exemption
conditions for loans.

Experiment in two regions of common eco-PLS and FEDER examinations to optimize analysis
procedures.
Who can benefit from this scheme?
Social housing eco-loans are accessible to social housing lessors and operators and companies mainly
owned by public (see article R.323-1 from the Building and housing code for details on eligible
organisms).
Last update: October 2015
What types of dwelling are eligible?
Dwellings from energy categories E, F and G are targeted in priority. Nevertheless, this loan can be
granted for D-category dwellings in the limit of 50,000 dwellings per year.
This loan can in addition to finance energy savings works made in high energy-consuming dwellings
located in ANRU zones (revitalizing urban zones).
What kinds of works can be financed?
Regarding buildings achieved after the 1st January 1948, social lessors have to prove the energy
performance benefits from refurbishment works. The assessment of the conventional energy consumption
level is made from the regulatory method « TH-C-E-ex ».
To benefit from the loan E, F or G category dwellings have to fulfill the following conditions:
- Primary energy conventional consumption before works has to be equal or bigger than
230kWh/m²/year;
- Primary energy conventional consumption after works has to be equal or less than 150 kWh/m²/year
(this condition can fluctuate with climatic zones and altitude).
For D-category dwellings,
- Primary energy conventional consumption before works has to range from 151 and 230 kWh/m²/year;
- Refurbishment works have to save 85 kWh/m²/year of primary energy conventional consumption or
the refurbished dwelling has to consume maximum 80/kWh/m²/year (this condition can fluctuate with
climatic zones and altitude).
Since the signature of the amendment in July 2015, individual dwellings of F and G categories have to
fulfill the following conditions:
- Primary energy conventional consumption before works has to be equal or bigger than à 330
kWh/m²/an;
- Primary energy conventional consumption after works has to be equal or less than 230 kWh/m²/year
(this condition can fluctuate with climatic zones and altitude).
All criterions are described in the Agreement signed by the French State and the CDC in May 2012 and in
its amendment from July 2015.
Impact evaluation
The first generation of Eco-PLS scheme has led to 95,000 social dwellings refurbishments until June
2011 whereas the second generation has led to56,000 refurbishments until the end of 2013.
Energy saved thanks to this measure has been assessed to 0.35 Mtoe in 2013 from the SceGES1 tool from
the French General Direction for Energy and Climate (DGEC) thanks to a bottom-up approach. It
represents 0.9 % of the final energy consumption in the residential sector in 2013 which was about 39.6
Mtoe according to CEREN2.
1
SceGES stands for Scenarios of Green House Gas Emissions (Scénarisation des Emissions de Gaz à
Effet de Serre)
2
Centre d'études et de recherches économiques sur l'énergie
Last update: October 2015
2013
0.35
(ex-post)
Energy savings (Mtoe)
2016
0.65
(ex-ante)
2020
1.03
(ex-ante)
Measure Impact Level
 low
 medium
 high
Definition of impact:
Low: energy savings < 0.1% of the overall households energy consumption
Medium: between 0.1 and 0.5%
High: > 0.5%
Interaction of measures
FRA34 Energy performance diagnosis
FRA45 Energy Savings Certificates
Historical data
1st generation
Period
Targets (Grenelle or
PREH)
Reference texts
Max. duration
Rate
Max number of dwellings
from category D
Results
2nd generation (before
PREH)
[Feb 2009; June 2011]
[Jan. 2012 ; July 2013]
[Aug. 2013; today]
100,000 refurbishments for
€1.2b
State-CDC
convention
from 2009 + amendment
from 2010
20 years
70,000 refurbishments per
year (Grenelle)
State-CDC
Convention
from 2012
120,000 refurbishments per
year within 2017 (PREH)
Amendment from July
2015
25 years
Variable-rate loan
depending on the Livret A
savings account rate and
duration (max. 25 years):
- same as those of the
savings account over a
repayment period of 5 to
15 years (this rate was 1%
in August 2012).
- 0.15% higher than those
of the savings account over
a repayment period of 16
to 20 years;
- 0.25% higher than those
of the savings account over
a repayment period of 21
to 25 years.
25 years
Variable-rate loan
depending on the Livret A
savings account rate and
duration (max. 25 years):
- 0.75% higher than those
of the savings account over
a repayment period of 5 to
15 years (this rate was 1%
in August 2012).
- 0.45% higher than those
of the savings account over
a repayment period of 16
to 20 years;
- 0.25% higher than those
of the savings account over
a repayment period of 21
to 25 years.
14,000/year
50,000/year
1.9% over 15 years – 2.35
% over 20 years
20,000
95,000 renovated between 23,000 renovated in 2012
2009-2011
1,200€/dwelling
530€/dwelling
Estimative cost for the
French State
Average expenses invested 27,000€
(all
taxes 38,000€
(all
taxes
per dwelling (eco-PLS
included) per dwelling included) per dwelling
included)
(11,700€ for eco-PLS)
(12,400€ for eco-PLS)
References
2nd generation (after
PREH)
33,000 renovated in 2013
1,000€/dwelling
36,000€
(all
taxes
included) per dwelling
(12,200€ for eco-PLS)
Last update: October 2015

Legislative and structural agreements signed by the French State and stakeholders
Avenant du 3 juillet 2015 à la convention du 4 mai 2012 sur la mise en œuvre de « l’éco-prêt logement
social » pour l’amélioration de la performance énergétique des logements sociaux
Convention du 4 mai 2012 entre l’Etat et la Caisse des dépôts et consignations sur la mise en œuvre de
l’«éco-prêt logement social» pour l’amélioration de la performance énergétique des logements sociaux
Avenant du 17 septembre 2010 à la convention du 26 février 2009 ouvrant « l’éco-prêt logement social »
à 20 000 logements sociaux de classe D du DPE
Loi n° 2009-967 du 3 août 2009 de programmation relative à la mise en œuvre du Grenelle de
l'environnement (article 5)
Convention du 26 février 2009 entre l’Etat et l’Union sociale pour l’habitat sur la mise en œuvre du
programme d’amélioration de la performance énergétique de 800 000 logements sociaux
Convention du 26 février 2009 entre l’Etat et la Caisse des dépôts et consignations sur la mise en oeuvre
de l’« éco-prêt logement social » pour l’amélioration de la performance énergétique des logements
sociaux

For further information
Eco PLS section from the Ministry for Sustainable Development website: www.developpementdurable.gouv.fr/L-eco-pret-logement-social-eco-PLS.html
Rénovation Info Service website to help households to get information on how to fund renovation works:
www.renovation-info-service.gouv.fr/
The national agency for information on housing website (Agence nationale pour l’information sur le
logement - ANIL): www.anil.org/
Financial supports guide for energy renovation existing building published by ADEME:
www.ademe.fr/sites/default/files/assets/documents/guide-aides-financieres-renovation-habitat-2015.pdf