Conto Termico 3.0 (Italy's incentive scheme for thermal efficiency) is a capital grant for those who improve the energy efficiency of an existing building or produce heat from renewable sources. Since 25 December 2025 it has also covered businesses that carry out works on their own headquarters. It is paid by GSE, Italy's energy services operator, by bank transfer: the money comes back into the account, without going through tax deductions.
What it is and who it is for
The scheme is governed by the Ministerial Decree of 7 August 2025 and run by GSE, the Gestore dei Servizi Energetici. It has 900 million euros a year: 400 for public authorities, 500 for private parties. It covers a share of the costs, up to a maximum of 65%, within the caps set for each type of measure.
What is new for companies is the opening to the tertiary sector. A business can apply for energy efficiency measures on buildings in these cadastral categories: A/10, group B, group C excluding C/6 and C/7, group D excluding D/9, group E excluding E/2, E/4 and E/6. This covers offices, shops, workshops, factories and industrial sheds. The criterion is the cadastral category of the building; the company's line of business makes no difference.
Which measures
The eligible measures fall into two families.
- Energy efficiency of the building: insulation of walls and roofs, replacement of windows and doors, solar shading, efficient lighting, building automation, conversion into a nearly zero-energy building (NZEB).
- Heat from renewable sources: heat pumps, solar thermal, heat pump water heaters, biomass boilers, connection to efficient district heating.
Photovoltaics with storage and EV charging points are eligible only when combined with the replacement of the heating system with electric heat pumps. For businesses, technologies fuelled by natural gas are excluded.
How much you get back
For businesses, the maximum rate of the incentive depends on company size and the type of measure.
- Small business: 45% for a single efficiency measure, 50% for combined measures, 65% for heat from renewables.
- Medium-sized business: 35%, 40% and 55%.
- Large business: 25%, 30% and 45%.
Increases are available, for example when energy performance improves by at least 40%; the ceiling remains 65% of eligible costs. Up to 15,000 euros the incentive arrives in a single instalment; above that it is split into annual instalments, from two to five.
The rules to know before you start
- Preliminary request: the business tells GSE that it intends to carry out the measure before the works start. It is a condition of access.
- Minimum saving: for efficiency measures, primary energy demand must fall by at least 10%, or 20% for combined measures.
- Energy certificates: the result is demonstrated with the APE (energy performance certificate) before and after the works.
- Application: submitted on the GSE portal within 90 days of the end of the works.
The order of operations matters: the incentive is prepared with the design, before the site opens.
How we approach it
A project that qualifies for Conto Termico is first of all a good energy design: diagnosis of the building, choice of the measures that deliver most, check of the requirements, application. At ARCHIlabs, mechanical and electrical engineers work with the architects on the same project. Efficiency enters the choices from the start and the incentive becomes part of the financial plan.
Figures taken from GSE's Application Rules (January 2026). The scheme is subject to updates and to the availability of funds: check the version in force before deciding.