New RenOnBill publication: overview of on-bill buildings energy renovation schemes

On-bill schemes are a powerful tool for financing energy efficiency in residential buildings. A new report by the RenOnBill project gives an introduction and sets the background for its future work.

Energy efficiency is the central lever for a climate-friendly residential building sector. The vast majority of existing properties need to be renovated to improve their energy performance. While the long-term benefits of this kind of deep energy renovation are clear, short-term financing often remains an issue. The Horizon2020 RenOnBill project aims to address this and to scale up investments in energy renovations of residential buildings, by promoting the development and implementation of on-bill schemes. These schemes, based on the cooperation between energy utilities and financial institutions, are a method of financing energy renovations through utility bills as a repayment vehicle.

On-bill schemes: fundamentals, overview, analysis

The new report launched by RenOnBill first analyses and reviews the fundamentals of on-bill schemes and their mechanisms, demonstrating their suitability for large-scale replication of small investments in residential buildings. It discusses and compares the main challenges related to energy efficiency financing mechanisms, with particular emphasis on on-bill schemes.

Afterwards, the study presents a detailed overview of several on-bill schemes that successfully supported energy renovations in the North American residential building sector, as well as other relevant on-bill initiatives carried out in Europe and in developing countries. The analysis demonstrates that these mechanisms are rather flexible and can be implemented for a multitude of purposes, ranging from enhancing electricity system adequacy to ensuring customer retention.

Finally, the report concludes with a comparative analysis of all the on-bill schemes it discusses and outlines the key issues to be addressed in order to ensure the replicability and scaling up of these schemes in Europe.

To read the full report, click here.

To learn more about RenOnBill, click here.