The ESCo model

Selettra, among the first companies in Italy accredited by the ESCo with the AEEG (Authority for Electricity and Gas), in 2013 obtained the ISO 50001:2011 certification and the UNI CEI 11352 “Energy Management – Company that provide energy services “, rules that outline the quality and requirements of the services offered and the organizational, diagnostic, design, management, economic and financial capacities that the company possesses in order to offer integrated energy services to its customers.
The experience, professionalism and skills acquired allow Selettra to promote integrated energy solutions and services to all public administrations and private companies.

Zero cost efficiency
The ESCo model and the Ftt – Third Party Financing
Thanks to technological innovations and energy policy instruments put in place at Community and state level, there is now ample room to increase the level of efficiency in the production and end use of energy.
The greatest brake, however, at the start of energy redevelopment projects is given by the lack of financial resources. In these years of economic crisis, it is increasingly difficult to raise capital, and this is particularly true in the civil sector, where above all the Public Administrations encounter now insurmountable obstacles for starting interventions and investments.
An instrument designed to overcome these obstacles are ESCo – an acronym for “Energy service company” – that is, an energy service company with the availability of know-how, technologies and capital specifically dedicated to the realization of investment projects for energy efficiency.
ESCos are companies that can carry out plant modernization interventions by committing own capital or, as happens more often, using resources advanced by the banking system (the “third party” in the Ftt – Third Party Financing mechanism). The investment costs, together with the related financial charges and business profits, will be recovered by the ESCo through the economies generated by energy savings (savings in utility bills) and by the management economies in the contract years.
On the other hand, the customer / user, be it a public body or a private company, will be able to benefit from the redevelopment and modernization interventions without minimally committing sums or financial resources. He will also be relieved of the technical and financial risks linked to the performance and success of the project (risks that remain with the ESCo, which acts as “holder of organizational, diagnostic, planning, managerial, economic and financial skills”).
The Ftt is one of the most avant-garde and most profitable financial instruments for the implementation of energy efficiency interventions, the use of which is strongly desired by all international bodies.
When there are the conditions for its use, for the same costs that must be incurred to use the services, it offers undisputed advantages for all the actors taking part in the project and, therefore, is advantageous for the entire community.
In particular, it benefits the User who develops investment projects without committing financial resources, the Community benefits from it, which benefits from both modern plants and a better quality of management and maintenance services, the ESCo benefits because it develops business activities .
The advantages that the municipal administration that uses the FTT mechanism for the management of lighting systems can obtain are:

  • It also carries out interventions in the absence of its own financial resources or when it has difficulties in finding external resources according to traditional methods (mortgage, leasing, etc.).
  • There is no technical and financial risk: in case of intervention not in line with the technical-economic-financial forecasts, ESCo will take responsibility for it.
  • Citizens will immediately be able to take advantage of interventions to improve urban decor, the quality of light, regulatory compliance and system safety.
  • It transfers the problems related to the management and maintenance of the plants to third parties, but offers citizens an efficient management service that minimizes breakdowns and guarantees timely interventions in the event of outages or dangerous situations.
  • Use resources for other tasks and goals.
  • It achieves important environmental benefits by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, in line with national and EU regulatory indications.
  • It achieves important economic benefits when the contract expires, when it can take full advantage of the investments made by E.S.Co. and fully achieve savings on the cost of energy.