The new Italian incentive scheme for efficiency and renewable thermal energy, Thermal 3.0 Count, is now official after its publication in the Official Gazette of September 26. The regulation updates the mechanism to promote small-scale interventions in buildings and aligns with the objectives of decarbonization and energy savings the country.
The decree, signed on August 7th, XNUMX, will come into force on December 25th 2025. From then on, a schedule for implementation and transition from 2.0 will be activated, with simpler rules, expanded beneficiaries and new incentivized technologies to accelerate the energy rehabilitation of the housing stock.
What is Thermal Conto 3.0 and what does it aim for?
This is a public program that promotes energy efficiency interventions and the production of renewable thermal energy in small-scale installations. The new version strengthens coherence with the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan and seeks more effective deployment, diversified and innovative in the buildings sector.
Priorities include reducing primary energy consumption in the civil sector, replacing obsolete systems and integrating solutions that combine efficient heating with renewable sources, keeping the process as agile as possible.
Main news
3.0 expands the scope of the mechanism and updates spending limits to adjust them to market prices, while opening the door to new technical configurations. These are the key points:
- Entry of Third Sector entities, social and residents' cooperatives, in-house companies of the administrations and dealerships of public services.
- Inclusion of buildings private non-residential of the tertiary sector among the potential beneficiaries.
- Possibility of channeling aid through Renewable Energy Community (CER) and configurations of collective self-consumption.
- New incentivizable typologies: photovoltaic with storage y recharging points for electric vehicles, provided that they are combined with the replacement of the thermal system with electric heat pumps.
- For companies, conditional access to do not use fossil fuels (including natural gas) on incentivized equipment.
Beneficiaries and percentages of aid
The scheme is aimed at public administrations, companies and private entities (individuals, condominiums, holders of business or agricultural income). The percentages vary by type of beneficiary and intervention, with higher support for actions of public interest.
- Private and public administrations: until the 65%. of eligible costs.
- Municipalities with up to 15.000 inhabitants and specific public buildings (e.g., schools or hospitals): until the 100%..
- Companies: until the 25%. for efficiency and 45%. for renewables, with majorities for SMEs, assisted areas or actions that reduce a 40% primary energy.
- Small performances: if the incentive is up to € 15.000, is paid in a single payment; above, in 2–5 years through constant quotas.
Budget and compatibility
The decree establishes a annual budget of 900 million euros, distributed in 400 million for public administrations and 500 million for private subjects. The Ministry may reset each year, distribution according to demand to optimize the use of funds.
The aids are not cumulative with other state subsidies, except for financial instruments such as guarantee funds, revolving funds or interest subsidies. Public administrations, on the other hand, can accumulate until covering the 100%. of the eligible cost. If resources are exhausted, the GSE may temporarily suspend the admission of applications.
Calendar and transition from Thermal Conto 2.0
3.0 comes into force on December 25th 2025. Since that date, the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, at the proposal of the GSE, dispose of 60 days to approve the application rules which will specify procedures, documentation and deadlines.
In parallel, Article 30 marks the closure of the previous regime: the actions initiated with the Thermal 2.0 Count deben be completed and loaded into the Portaltermico before December 25, 2025. After that date, applications will no longer be accepted with the old requirements.
However, transitional assumptions remain for public administrations: reservations accepted by the GSE with works not yet completed at the time of entry into force, and replacements by condensing boilers covered by energy performance or supply contracts signed before January 1, 2025, provided that the application is submitted within the next year upon entry into force.
The GSE must update the portal of processing and publish the operating instructions. With this schedule, full implementation of 3.0 is expected between January and February 2026, once the rules have been published.
How to request aid?
There are two access routes. The direct access requires submitting the application in the Thermal portal within 60 days after completion of the works, with a simplified procedure for teams small power included in the GSE pre-enabled Catalogue.
The second option is the reservation (prenotazione), prior to the execution of the action, available exclusively for public administrations or ESCOs acting on their own. This modality allows for receiving a advance at the beginning and the balance at the end.
Documentation and payment
Documentation varies depending on the typology of intervention and must be attached during the application, keeping it for possible verifications. The GSE may require copies at any time and review the originals at on-site inspection.
Help is a direct subsidy (not a tax deduction) and is paid by transfer to the responsible party. For single payment amounts, payment is usually made in 60–90 days from acceptance; the higher amounts are distributed in annual fees according to GSE contract.
Reaction of the sector
From the construction industry, Finco has positively valued the update for its scope and new beneficiaries, although it asks Clear instructions and speed in the GSE application rules, as well as evaluating in the future a possible budget reinforcement if demand requires it.
Given the regulatory and technical complexity of the scheme, various specialized publications are preparing practical guides to interpret requirements, computation of incentives and procedures, with the aim of facilitating the management of files by administrations, companies and private users.
With the decree already published, a defined annual budget and a wider range of eligible actions, the Thermal Conto 3.0 is emerging as the central tool to boost efficiency and renewable heat in buildings, pending GSE rules that will finalize the operational details and will set the pace for their deployment in 2026.
