Evaluating the financial return on energy saving certificates (CEE)

Established by the POPE Act of 2005 and renewed for the fifth obligation period (2022–2025), this program requires energy suppliers to finance a portion of your investments in exchange for the resulting energy savings, expressed in kWh cumac.

The Energy Savings Certificates (CEE) program is a legal mechanism that requires energy suppliers (“obligated parties,” more than 500 companies in France) to achieve or facilitate energy savings. In return, they purchase CEE certificates from entities (companies, local governments, households) that implement eligible energy efficiency measures.

For an industrial company, EECs offer three concrete benefits:

• a direct reduction in investment costs through a financial incentive;

• a profitability booster, improving the payback period and the IRR of projects;

• a key component of the financing strategy, which can be combined with other public subsidies.

Knowing how to identify eligible projects, calculate the volume of EECs that can be monetized, and negotiate effectively with obligated parties or aggregators is a strategic skill that can generate tens of thousands of euros in additional revenue per year for a medium-sized industrial site.

This guide provides you with the methodological tools to accurately assess the expected financial return on your CEE credits, from calculating the potential savings to receiving payment, including selecting the monetization method best suited to your situation.