The positive side of the Superbonus and Giorgetti’s criticisms
The Superbonus costs a lot (100 billion euros, as Minister Giorgetti recalled), but now the first positive effects are starting to be seen. In fact, Italy has recorded a record saving of 3 billion euros in the national energy bill in 2022 thanks to the energy efficiency interventions of Italian buildings (Superbonus, Ecobonus and Home Bonus). This was estimated by Enea in relation to the lower imports of oil and gas, which are equivalent to a reduction in CO₂ emissions of approximately 6.5 million tonnes and a saving of just over 2.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) , a result that substantially brings Italy closer to the objectives of the new Energy Efficiency Directive.
Meanwhile, in November the investments eligible for deduction for the Superbonus reached the figure of 96.76 billion. And, according to Enea data, investments for completed works eligible for deduction amount to 81.39 billion. The interventions involved 446,878 buildings, including 92 thousand condominiums and 238,972 single-family buildings, 115,745 independent units and 7 castles. Even the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti, speaking in Atreju, recognized that ‘in the moment of maximum pain’ for the economy the Superbonus ‘could have made sense’. Then, however, it had to be reduced. Now we have put a bag of sand on it – he explained – but it continues to give off radioactivity”. The minister then made a comparison with morphine which is used to reduce pain after an operation and “the anesthetist has to reduce the morphine day by day and the patient says ‘no, no, give me more'”, and so it is went, according to Giorgetti, also with the Superbonus. Now, “the bill to pay has unfortunately reached 94 billion and by the end of the year we will exceed 100”, concluded the minister.
Read also: Superbonus, what will change in 2024 for jobs and deductions: all the answers
The Enea Report on energy efficiency
Therefore, on the one hand the heavy impact on state budgets, on the other the first positive effects on energy consumption. Let us return then to the 12th Annual Report on Energy Efficiency and the 14th Annual Report on tax deductions for energy saving interventions and use of renewable energy sources in existing buildings prepared by Enea and presented during a conference held on 14 December in Rome, at Palazzo Valentini. From the overall data it is clear that it will take many, many years for the Italian State to recover from the expenditure of the Superbonus, but it is equally true that the energy efficient project could not be completed overnight and with low economic investments. In short, to save energy in the coming decades it was somehow necessary to take on the courses now. With hindsight, however, with a less generous and sensitive mechanism to scams.
“There are many challenges that in the last two years have led the European Commission to launch a series of legislative actions to support the energy transition and to set more ambitious objectives for the reduction of consumption and the growth of renewable sources”, underlined the president of Aeneas, Gilberto Dialuce. «In a context of profound transformations – he adds – Enea can play a technical guiding role in the process of transposition and implementation of new policies, providing the necessary support to correctly interpret European directives, adapt them to national specificities and coordinate efforts of the various subjects involved. Furthermore, through monitoring activities, ENEA can contribute to that policy learning process which will allow the aim to be adjusted, where necessary, along the path to achieving the objectives”.
The European objectives
Tax deductions (Ecobonus, Home Bonus and Superbonus) contributed to the positive results compared to the EU objectives, with a saving of 1.363 Mtoe (54.3% compared to the new 2022 savings), equal to 98.1% of the savings expected according to the trajectories set by the PNIEC2 for 2023. Followed by the incentives for sustainable mobility with 0.423 Mtoe (16.8%) and the White Certificates which covered 12.6% of the total annual savings.
“The record saving estimated at 3 billion euros is obviously also affected by the strong surge in energy prices, but at the same time it is a sign of the importance that energy efficiency is taking on in our country”, explained Ilaria Bertini , director of the Enea Department of Energy Efficiency.
The balance of tax deductions: the Superbonus
On the Superbonus front, Enea data highlights that as of December 2022 the total number of projects amounted to 352,101, with 60.76 billion euros of investments eligible for financing, of which 45.2 billion for works already completed, and a saving total equal to 9,050.04 GWh/year. Condominiums continued to occupy the most significant part with 43%; followed by the types of single-family buildings with 39.3% and functionally independent real estate units present within condominium buildings with 17.8%.
Ecobonus
On the Ecobonus front, the mechanism to incentivize energy efficiency in end uses introduced in 2007, Enea reports highlight a reduction in interventions in 2022 to just under 940,700 compared to 1.04 million in 2021, a value which is still double the to the average for the period 2017-2019. The associated investments correspond to 6,823 million euros against the 7,537 million mobilized in the previous year, while the overall savings amount to 2,136 GWh/year, down compared to 2,652 GWh/year in 2021. Most of the interventions concern the installation of more efficient air conditioning systems (3.08 billion euros, 64.7% of interventions) and the replacement of windows and doors (2.38 billion euros, 20.6% of interventions). Around 605 million were also invested in the thermal insulation of the building, 482 million for solar shading and around 124 million for the overall redevelopment of the properties.
Since 2007, the year the measure was launched, the number of interventions incentivized by the ecobonus has been around 6.4 million, with an overall saving of almost 25 thousand GWh/year, deriving mainly from partial interventions on individual real estate units and slightly less of 60 billion euros of activated investments.
House Bonus
The Home Bonus in 2022 recorded 508 thousand interventions with a decrease of 42.36% compared to 2021; however, in terms of energy savings the decrease is lower (-10%), going from 925,033 MWh/year in 2021 to 833,294 MWh in 2022, a trend that indicates a qualitative improvement in interventions on the plants.
2023-12-15 14:19:56
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