Energy companies will be able to reduce their payments to the efficiency fund if they certify savings

The Government has approved the system of energy savings certificates (CAE). This is a tool for achieving the energy savings targets committed to with Brussels and will allow companies in the sector to reduce their payments to the National Energy Efficiency Fund (FNEE), of at least 235 million euros for this year, to the extent of the savings obtained through efficiency measures demonstrated by means of these certificates.

Among the energy companies that will contribute most to the FNEE in 2023, Repsol stands out, with 20% of the total to be contributed (76.9 million euros); Endesa, with 12% (some 48.6 million); Naturgy, with 10% (38.5 million); Cepsa, with 10% (38.1 million); Iberdrola, with 8% (some 29.5 million); and BP, with close to 4% (around 17 million).

The Government will create a new market "that will make it easier for energy marketers to comply with their savings obligations, benefit consumers and boost employment, productivity and business competitiveness", according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge. With its approval, one of the measures envisaged in the More Energy Security Plan (Plan +SE) is also fulfilled.

European regulations already contemplated the substitution of payments to the National Energy Efficiency Fund, intended to subsidize energy efficiency actions, for equivalent savings, either their own or in their clients, demonstrated by means of these certificates.

The CAE is a successful formula in other countries, such as France, which has managed to multiply its annual savings capacity. Energy companies will be able to identify savings measures according to a catalog of actions relating to air conditioning, improvement of the envelope, lighting, mobility, industrial processes, etc., the implementation of which will make it possible to obtain the CAE (one CAE is equivalent to 1 kWh saved).

A ministerial order will soon approve this catalog. Once the savings action has been implemented, the company will submit the results to an independent verifier, accredited by the National Accreditation Entity (ENAC), for validation. They will then be registered in an electronic platform operated by Transición Ecológica and the Autonomous Community where the action has been taken will issue the corresponding CAE, with effect throughout the national territory.

The PPAs registered in the electronic platform may be liquidated, helping to meet the companies' savings obligations, or they may be traded, allowing other obligated companies to acquire them and proceed with their liquidation in order to meet their obligations.

Obligated parties may operate directly or contract the services of accredited companies, known as delegated parties. The Platform will make it possible to inventory all these agents and trace the operations carried out with the certificates during their three years of validity.