Background information

The aim of the ‘Energy consulting for non-residential buildings, facilities and systems’ programme is to increase energy efficiency and promote the use of renewable energies in order to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050. Funding is provided to companies, local authorities and non-profit organisations that gain knowledge about efficiency potential through energy consultations and can thus make optimal investment decisions. Funding is provided in the form of energy audits, contracting-orientation consultations and other measures aimed at achieving annual energy savings of up to 530,000 MWh.

It is a successor programme to the "Federal support for energy consulting for SMEs", which expired in 2020 and specifically supported small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with grants to reduce information deficits, identify potential savings and implement measures to improve energy efficiency, and the "Energy consulting for non-residential buildings of municipalities and non-profit organisations" programme.

Content of measure

In contrast to the previous programmes ‘Federal funding for energy advice for SMEs’ and ‘Energy advice for non-residential buildings of municipalities and non-profit organisations’, the requirements for eligible applicants have been merged so that the following institutions are eligible for funding:

1. local authorities, special-purpose associations and non-profit organisations

2. SMEs with fewer than 250 employees and an annual turnover of no more than 50 million euros or an annual balance sheet total of no more than 43 million euros.

3. non-SMEs with their registered office and business operations in Germany whose total annual energy consumption does not exceed 500,000 kilowatt hours of all energy sources.

The subsidy is divided into three modules:

1. funding for an energy audit. The amount of funding depends on the annual energy costs and amounts to 50% of the eligible consultancy fee, up to a maximum of EUR 3,000.

2. an energy consultation for an energy-efficient renovation concept or for a new building consultation aimed at a government-subsidised efficiency house.

3. The amount of the subsidy is 50% of the eligible consultancy fee, up to a maximum of EUR 4,000. The exact amount depends on the net floor area of the building in question.

4. a contracting-oriented consultation promotes a contracting model with a contractual savings guarantee.

5. The amount of funding depends on the energy costs and is 50% of the eligible consultancy fee, up to a maximum of EUR 5,000.

Compared to the previous ‘Federal funding for energy advice for SMEs’, the amount of funding has been adjusted and extended to include energy consulting for energy-efficient renovation concepts or for consulting for new buildings, as well as contracting orientation consulting with a savings guarantee.

Use of measure

A current evaluation of the measure is not yet available.

An Evaluations of the previous programme ‘Federal funding for energy advice for SMEs’ was carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2018. The group focused on four goals to assess the effectiveness of the measure: 

1. energy savings between 10% to 20% per company;

2. reducing energy of all companies within the scope of the programme by 400 gigawatt hours;

3. increase of implemented measures of energy efficiency to three per company;

4. increased quality of consultations.

The PWC report shows that businesses are actively seeking consultation on the matter of energy efficiency. They were able to increase measurements for increased energy efficiency and in the process save energy and costs. In addition, the results indicate that:

• Companies were able to save on average 13.88% of energy per year, for the period between 2015 and 2020. This equals 120 megawatt hours annually.

• It is estimated that the entire programme has saved on average 502 gigawatt hours per year between 2015 and 2020. Including dead weight effects, it is estimated that up to 808 gigawatt hours were saved annually (in total).

• Consultation on energy efficiency has led to the implementation of on average 2.45 energy efficiency measures per company. This is below the goal of 3 measures per company.

• Interviews show that the quality of consultations has increased compared to the previous study by ISI from 2014. Over 75% of consultation participants considered the consultation to be beneficiary.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	European Funds National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

Unknown

Views and reactions

Unknown

Sources

• 01 January 2016: Federal funding for energy advice for SMEs [Bundesförderung für Energieberatung im Mittelstand] (www.bafa.de)
• 01 January 2018: Programme evaluation (www.bafa.de)
• 13 November 2020: Announcement of the guideline ‘Energy consulting for non-residential buildings, facilities and systems’ (EBN) (www.foerderdatenbank.de)
• 06 August 2024: Amendment to the publication of the guideline ‘Energy consulting for non-residential buildings, installations and systems’ (EBN) (www.bundesanzeiger.de)