Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
consumption) and therefore it has not regulated in details the operation of the
conto termico. The detailed rules have been adopted one year after the enactment
of the legislative decree by Ministerial Decree dated 28 December 2012. The conto
termico main scope is supporting the public entities to increase the energy effi-
ciency because the public entities cannot take advantage from the tax deductions
(from which the private persons benefit) while both private and public entities may
avail themselves of the conto termico for producing energy from renewable
resources or for high efficiency plants (for more details see below).
The main requirements for benefitting from the conto termico are:
• The interventions must be realized after 31 December 2011 and may benefit
from the conto termico to the extent which exceeds the quota necessary to
comply with the mandatory rules on the inclusion of renewable resources in the
buildings of new construction and in the buildings which are object of property
renovation and which are necessary for the obtainment of the issuance of the
building permits (article 4, third paragraph, Ministerial Decree 28 December
2012);
• The Ministerial Decree distinguishes between the ''admitted persons'' (who are
the beneficiary of the interventions) and the ''responsible persons'' (who have
paid for the expense of the intervention, are entitled to receive the incentive and
execute the agreement with the GSE);
• The admitted persons may be public entities and private persons (including
natural persons, business enterprises, condominiums). The admitted persons
may also avail themselves of the ESCO
5
;
• The responsible persons are the persons who have incurred the expense for the
intervention and who executes the agreement with the GSE. If the public
entities or the private persons have executed a contract for the energy services,
then the responsible person is the ESCO, on the grounds that it is the subject
that has incurred the expense, whilst in case of financing by third parties (which
occurs when the financing is made available by a bank), the responsible person
is the public entity or the private person.
6
The funds which are available for financing the conto termico are limited: for
the private sector are capped up to €700 million, whilst the public entities may
5
According to the Ministerial Decree and the Rules for the applicability of the Ministerial Decree
dated 28 December 2012 released by GSE on 4 December 2013 (formerly release dated 9 April
2013) the ESCOs relevant for the conto termico are (i) the entities that are certified UNI CEI 11352
(ii) entities whose articles of association provide the supply of energy services and that are included
in the list of Energy Service Companies (Società di Servizi Energetici) currently managed by GSE
and (iii) the entities indicated in article 2, first paragraph of legislative decree No. 115/2008. The
above mentioned entities provide energy services or any other instruments for the improvement of
energy efficiency in the plants or areas of the client accepting a financial risk. If the responsible
person is the ESCO, the energy contract executed by the ESCO together with any financing
agreement made available by third party, which evidences the incurred expenses, must be filed with
GSE.
6
In case of leasing, the invoices must be issued to the leasing company and a copy of the leasing
agreement must be delivered to the GSE S.p.A.
