Conto Termico 3.0 creates a current Italian funding route for improving the energy performance of existing buildings. Building automation is one of the named interventions, with its own eligible functions, calculation limits and application process.
The scheme and the Italian building automation requirement serve different purposes. The statutory BACS rule asks whether a non-residential building must have automation and control. Conto Termico 3.0 asks whether a defined project and applicant qualify for an incentive. A project can fall within both frameworks, but satisfying one does not prove compliance with the other.
Current status and effective date
The Ministerial Decree of 7 August 2025 was published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 26 September 2025. Article 31 states that it enters into force on the ninetieth day after publication, which was 25 December 2025.
The decree replaced the previous Conto Termico framework for applications made after its entry into force. GSE’s current guidance treats the new Portaltermico process and the building automation intervention as operational.
This guide covers the building automation line in Article 5(1)(f). It does not calculate the incentive for heating equipment, photovoltaics, storage, electric-vehicle charging or another intervention that may form part of a wider project.
Who and which buildings can qualify
Article 4 admits two applicant groups for the energy-efficiency interventions in Article 5:
- public administrations; and
- private parties, only for work on buildings in the tertiary sector.
Article 5 confines the intervention to existing buildings, parts of existing buildings or existing property units equipped with a climate-control system. Current GSE guidance adds the practical building test: the property must be registered in the urban building cadastre when the application is made, must not be a building under construction in category F, and must have an operating winter climate-control system.
This means that private eligibility is not a general incentive for automation in every industrial or residential property. Confirm the applicant, building use, cadastral status and existing climate-control system before treating the project as a Conto Termico 3.0 opportunity.
The applicant also needs to distinguish the building automation work from equipment installed for another intervention. GSE’s guidance gives a specific example: thermoregulation systems or thermostatic valves associated with replacement windows belong to that intervention’s costs, while Article 5(1)(f) covers the qualifying building automation devices for its named services.
Eligible building automation functions
The decree defines building automation broadly enough to include thermal and electrical building services. The named purposes are improving energy efficiency in:
- heating;
- cooling, ventilation and air conditioning;
- domestic hot-water production;
- lighting;
- solar-shading control;
- centralised and integrated control of the different applications;
- diagnostics; and
- consumption detection.
Article 5 also includes thermoregulation, heat accounting, and the transmission and processing of those data. Article 6 makes the supply and installation of qualifying building automation systems eligible, together with necessary adaptations to the electrical, winter heating and summer cooling systems.
GSE’s current clarification draws a useful boundary. Under the building automation intervention, eligible devices must relate to the listed building services, integrated control, diagnostics or consumption detection. A valve or local control component is not automatically a building automation cost simply because it can communicate with a controller.
The installed system must satisfy the technical requirements in Annex 1 of the decree. The funding percentage and cost ceilings do not waive those requirements. The project file should identify the controlled services, functions, equipment, data paths and commissioned outcome rather than rely on a generic product description.
The 40% rate and its limits
For building automation under Article 5(1)(f), Table 7 sets all three calculation boundaries:
| Calculation item | Building automation value |
|---|---|
| Supported share of eligible expenditure | 40% |
| Maximum eligible specific cost | EUR 60/m² of useful floor area covered by the intervention |
| Maximum total incentive | EUR 100,000 |
The incentive is therefore not simply 40% of every amount invoiced. The calculation is constrained by the useful floor area, the EUR 60/m² maximum eligible cost and the EUR 100,000 ceiling. Only eligible expenditure within the intervention belongs in the calculation.
The decree provides a 10% increase for Article 5(1)(d), (e) and (f) projects where the components used are made in the European Union. The project should claim that increase only where the components and documentary evidence satisfy the decree and current GSE application rules.
Article 3 also places annual cumulative expenditure limits on the scheme. Eligibility does not reserve funding by itself. Check the current GSE process and available allocation when preparing the application.
The limited 100% public-building cases
The general building automation rate is 40%. Article 11(2) and the note to Table 7 increase the supported share to 100% only for defined public-building cases:
- buildings used by municipalities with populations up to 15,000; and
- the specified public buildings covered by Article 48-ter of Decree-Law 104/2020.
The 100% rate does not remove the maximum unit cost or maximum incentive. A qualifying project remains subject to the EUR 60/m² cost boundary, the EUR 100,000 incentive ceiling and the applicable technical and procedural requirements.
Do not present 100% support as the standard public-sector rate. First document the public owner or user, municipality population where relevant, building category and the Article 11(2) route being relied on.
Five-year payment and the 90-day deadline
Table 1 assigns building automation an incentive duration of five years. Article 11 states that incentives are paid in equal annual instalments for the stated duration.
For direct access, Article 14 requires the responsible party to submit the application through GSE’s Portaltermico within 90 days after completion of the intervention. Missing that deadline makes the application ineligible under the direct route.
Public administrations can also use the reservation route where one of Article 14’s conditions is met, such as an energy diagnosis accompanied by an administrative commitment to carry out a qualifying intervention, an eligible energy-performance contract, or an awarded works decision. Reservation is a separate process with its own milestones and evidence. It should not be described as a way to extend the 90-day direct-access deadline.
Build an evidence file before procurement
The commercial quotation should follow a documented project boundary. A useful evidence file contains:
- Applicant and building eligibility. Applicant type, tertiary use where private, cadastral record, existing-building status and the operating winter climate-control system.
- Intervention boundary. Useful floor area, building services in scope, existing controls, retained equipment and necessary adaptations.
- Function schedule. Automatic control, thermoregulation, accounting, integration, diagnostics, consumption detection, data transmission and processing by service.
- Cost schedule. Eligible building automation costs separated from other interventions, the EUR 60/m² calculation and the EUR 100,000 ceiling.
- Commissioning evidence. Device and controller identities, point schedule, network drawings, tested sequences, alarm delivery and representative trends.
- Application record. Completion date, invoices, professional documents, Portaltermico submission and the evidence for any Article 11(2) public-building rate.
Keep the incentive calculation separate from technical acceptance. An eligible invoice does not show that a control sequence works. A live trend does not establish that the associated cost belongs in the Conto Termico calculation.
Plan measurements around the controlled services
Each claimed function should have an observable input, decision and result. The measurement plan can include:
| Service | Useful evidence |
|---|---|
| Heating and hot water | Energy input, heat output where metered, temperatures, run state, set point, valve state and schedule |
| Cooling and ventilation | Electrical input, thermal output where available, fan or compressor state, airflow or pressure, occupied conditions and alarms |
| Lighting | Circuit energy, occupancy or schedule state, control command and achieved output state |
| Solar shading | Zone conditions, command, position feedback and interaction with heating, cooling and lighting demand |
| Integrated control | Shared time, approved data exchange, supervisory request, local response, override and communication-loss behaviour |
| Diagnostics | Fault source, timestamp, affected service, alarm recipient, acknowledgement and return to normal operation |
For every point, record the physical boundary, source device, unit, sample interval, retained history and quality state. Record writable points separately with their authorised writer, range, interlocks, timeout, feedback and safe fallback.
Use the equipment performance measurement-boundary guide to distinguish energy input, useful output and service level. The HVAC energy-monitoring application provides a practical starting point for plant and schedule boundaries.
Where EpiSensor fits
EpiSensor can add operational measurements and supported data integration to a qualifying building automation project. Electricity monitors can separate HVAC, lighting and auxiliary feeders. Pulse and M-Bus interfaces can collect gas, water and heat-meter totals. Modbus and analogue interfaces can collect supported plant states and process values. Edge can retain the interval record on site and serve approved data to a BMS, energy platform or reporting workflow.
That can fill measurement gaps, support diagnostics and preserve evidence that commissioned sequences continue to operate. It does not decide applicant eligibility, certify the Annex 1 requirements, calculate the incentive or submit the Portaltermico application.
Use the BMS and SCADA integration application to define the approved interface without displacing local plant control and safety functions. For an initial survey, the System Builder can help map each measurement point to the required interface.
Common questions
What support does Conto Termico 3.0 provide for building automation?
The building automation line supports 40% of eligible expenditure, subject to a maximum eligible cost of EUR 60 per square metre and a total incentive ceiling of EUR 100,000. The incentive is paid in five equal annual instalments.
When can the building automation incentive cover 100% of eligible expenditure?
The 100% rate is limited to the public-building cases defined by Article 11(2): buildings used by municipalities with populations up to 15,000, and the specified public buildings covered by Article 48-ter of Decree-Law 104/2020. The scheme’s unit-cost and maximum-incentive limits still apply.
Are private companies eligible for the building automation line?
Private applicants are eligible only for work on buildings in the tertiary sector. The building must be existing, registered in the urban building cadastre when the application is made, outside the under-construction category, and equipped with an operating winter climate-control system.
What building automation functions are eligible?
The decree covers management and automatic control for heating, cooling, ventilation, air conditioning, domestic hot water, lighting, solar shading, integrated application control, diagnostics and consumption detection. The eligible cost line includes qualifying building automation equipment and necessary electrical, heating and cooling system adaptations.
How long is the application deadline?
For direct access, the responsible party must apply through GSE’s Portaltermico within 90 days after completion of the work. Public administrations also have a reservation route where the conditions in Article 14 are met.