Subsidy programme 2025

  • This programme has a budget of 1 M€.
  • Renewal will allow electrical installations to adapt to new renewable consumption and to the highest safety standards.
  • Communities will be able to get up to 70% of aid with a maximum of €15,000 per installation.
  • The application period shall be extended until 15 October.

The Basque Energy Agency is starting today  a new aid programme for the renovation of old electrical installations that are still in operation in housing buildings in the Basque Country. These obsolete plants are a brake on the implementation of efficiency, savings and renewable energy measures, so their renovation will bring these buildings into line with current electricity regulations.

This aid will contribute to the modernisation of old electrical installations in residential buildings built before 1999, in particular those relating to the common parts, i.e. the areas ranging from the external connection point of the building to the housing threshold. These are, in some cases, very old and low voltage electrical installations, the renovation of which has ample room for improvement in order to meet the current standards of quality and safety.

Once updated, these facilities will be able to supply energy to homes safely and to provide more and more demanded services such as the new high-efficiency heating systems (e.g. aerothermia), as well as the deployment of renewable energies – solar panels on rooftops – and, ultimately, progress in decarbonising domestic energy consumption.

In addition, the centralization of meters in the communities that have a garage in the same building will also allow the installations to be prepared for the recharging of the electric vehicle, an important element in the urban centres where car access increasingly requires low-emission vehicles.

Characteristics of the aid
The communities that own the facilities will be able to undertake two types of improvements. On the one hand, those designed to modernise wiring and tension, which must be type B2, that is, 230 volts, and all wiring with fabric coating must be replaced. In addition, accessible general protection boxes and ground conductors should be installed in the electrical panels. Support will also be given to the introduction of general grounding in installations that still do not have this priority safety device.

This programme has a budget of EUR 1 million and the aid may be up to 70% of the eligible costs for interventions that make both types of improvement, with an installation ceiling of EUR 15,000, and up to 60% if only one of them is committed.

Buildings with old installations 
Euskadi has an aged residential building park, as 61% of these buildings were built before 1980, when the current regulations on energy efficiency, envelope, heating, renewable energy use and safety did not meet the requirements that are currently needed in every new building.

23% of these communities maintain their original electrical installations, with an B1 connection corresponding to the old 125/220 volt system. These systems were not equipped with a differential switch and have poor isolation from a safety point of view. In addition, they also do not have land grabs. By Historical Territory, 28% of the inhabited buildings in Bizkaia are in this situation, 18% in Gipuzkoa and 15% in Araba.

By means of these aids, it is intended to contribute to improving the electricity quality of buildings so that they can access new electricity services in heating, air conditioning and renewables, and to decarbonise their consumption, while at the same time adapting to the necessary safety requirements today.