How is the energy grant amount calculated?

The energy grant is the smaller of two figures: 4,000 euros multiplied by the number of apartments in the buildings that receive measures, or 50 percent of the eligible costs. Only a share of each measure counts toward the eligible costs, for example 40 percent of windows and 20 percent of added insulation. The grant goes only to a housing company or a corporation owning state-subsidised housing, and only if the post-renovation E-number is at least 23 percent below the building's original E-number for an apartment block, and at least 28 percent below for a detached, linked or terraced house. Apex Heat App calculates the eligibility, the eligible costs and the grant amount for the recommended measure package and produces the calculation as an attachment to the application.

9/18/2026

What is the energy grant?

The energy grant is based on the Finnish Government decree on energy grants for residential buildings in 2026–2027. The decree was issued on 10 September 2026 and is in force from 28 September 2026. Varke, the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland, accepts applications from 28 September 2026. The funding is 110 million euros for 2026–2027. Grants are awarded as long as the appropriation lasts, and applications are processed in order of arrival.

The grant is awarded for a renovation project that improves a residential building's energy efficiency. It is not a per-measure subsidy but a sum calculated for the whole project, and its amount depends on the number of apartments, the project's costs and the E-number improvement.

Who can apply?

The applicant is a corporation that owns a residential building: a housing company or a housing cooperative, or a corporation that owns state-subsidised rental or right-of-occupancy housing whose use and transfer restrictions remain in force for at least five more years. A private person, for example the owner of a detached house, cannot apply, and neither can other companies, such as landlords of market-rate rental housing. A detached house therefore receives the grant only when a housing company owns it, for example a housing company made up of several small houses.

A housing company that carries on economic activity, or more than half of whose shares are held by a corporation that does, is not eligible. The building must not have received another public energy grant earlier, for example the 2020–2023 energy grant. At least half of the building's floor area must be in year-round residential use.

Which E-number improvement is required?

The post-renovation E-number may be at most a coefficient times the building's original E-number. The coefficient is 0.77 for an apartment block, so the improvement must be at least 23 percent, and 0.72 for a detached, linked or terraced house, so at least 28 percent. A housing company made up of several small houses is judged by the small-house requirement, and in a company with both apartment blocks and small houses each building by its own type. The coefficient is the minimum requirement for renovation under the Ministry of the Environment decree 4/13, 0.85 for an apartment block and 0.80 for a small house, tightened by 10 percent. In addition, the measures must improve the E-number from the building's current state: a building renovated earlier may already sit under the threshold, but a package that does not lower its E-number is not eligible.

The reference level is the building's original E-number, the E-number as the building was built. Either a consultant calculates it, or Apex Heat App estimates it from the register data with the U-values of the construction period and the original ventilation and heating. If the building's use has changed, the reference is calculated at the level of the year of the change. When Apex Heat App cannot estimate the original E-number, it uses the current-state E-number as the reference.

Which costs are eligible?

The eligible costs count a share of each measure's VAT-inclusive cost, per the table in Varke's application guide (section 3.4). These are the rows Apex Heat App prices:

Design, E-number calculations and the energy performance certificate: 100%.
Abandoning oil or gas heating, including the related modifications: 100%. A hybrid solution that keeps the oil or gas boiler in use is not abandonment.
Ventilation heat recovery, including an exhaust-air heat pump: 50%.
Windows and external doors: 40%, when the new window's U-value is at most 0.70 W/m²K, that is at least 30 percent better than the decree 4/13 requirement.
Solar energy: 40%.
Added facade and roof insulation: 20%, when the insulation reaches the decree 4/13 level, that is half the current U-value and at most 0.17 W/m²K for a wall and 0.09 W/m²K for a roof.
Added floor insulation, cooling, and pressure reduction and water fixtures: 20%.
A heat-pump system that does not replace oil or gas heating in use, for example a ground-source or air-to-water heat pump in an electrically or district-heated building, or a hybrid that keeps the oil or gas boiler in use: 40%, including the cabling and piping it needs. Per-apartment air-to-air heat pumps sit on the same row.
Conversion to district heating in a building not heated with oil or gas: 0%, because the table has no district-heating row.
Equipment acquired under a leasing or service model: 0%, unless ownership passes to the applicant by the time payment is claimed.

The guide's table has further rows that Apex Heat App does not price, for example a heat-storing fireplace and building automation at 40% and air-tightness sealing proven by measurement at 60%. Varke may apply a lower share, and a share that departs from the table requires a separate statement from a specialist designer or the product supplier.

How is the grant amount calculated?

The grant is the smaller of the following: 4,000 euros times the number of apartments, or 50 percent of the eligible costs. Only the apartments in buildings that receive eligible measures are counted.

Example: a 40-apartment block abandons oil heating for a ground-source heat pump at 300,000 euros, replaces its windows for 200,000 euros and spends 10,000 euros on design. The eligible costs are 300,000 + 0.4 × 200,000 + 10,000 = 390,000 euros, of which 50 percent is 195,000 euros. The per-apartment cap is 40 × 4,000 = 160,000 euros, so the grant is 160,000 euros and the per-apartment cap binds. If the same project were carried out in a 60-apartment building, the per-apartment cap would be 240,000 euros and the grant 195,000 euros; the cost cap would then bind and additional measures would raise the grant.

The binding cap is the most useful fact for the applicant: when the per-apartment cap binds, adding eligible cost does not raise the grant, and when the cost cap binds, every eligible euro raises it by half a euro.

How does Apex Heat App calculate the grant?

Apex Heat App calculates the grant for the measure package it recommends for the building. The calculation is made per building: an apartment block is held to the apartment-block requirement and a small house to the small-house requirement, and the per-apartment cap counts only the apartments of the buildings the package reaches. The original E-number is estimated from the register data according to the building's construction period, and the consultant can replace the estimate with their own calculation or state the building's original ventilation and heating method.

Every cost item is assigned to its cost category, and the U-value conditions for added insulation and windows are checked from the U-value potentials on the form. A row whose condition is not met, or whose share is zero, is shown with its cost and the reason, so the consultant sees why the eligible total is what it is. The output is the eligibility with its grounds, the eligible costs by category, the grant amount and the binding cap, plus a PDF calculation as an attachment to the application.

The calculation is a preliminary estimate, not a binding decision. The software does not check the project's timing or the payment attachments, and the grant is awarded by Varke.

What is the application timeline?

Design costs are accepted from 20 April 2026. A project already under way qualifies if the tenders were accepted or the contract signed and the works started on 1 June 2026 or later, and the application with its attachments is filed by 31 December 2026. For applications filed in 2027, works may not start before the application is filed.

The application includes a statement of the measures signed by a professional, E-number calculations before and after the renovation, and a cost estimate. For payment, the applicant submits calculations of the realised situation, a statement of the realised costs, the as-built plans and an official energy performance certificate prepared after the renovation. The grant is paid in one instalment once the project is complete, and payment must be claimed by the end of October of the second calendar year after the year of the decision. Read how an energy performance certificate is produced with Apex Heat App.

Frequently asked questions about the energy grant

At most 4,000 euros per apartment and at most 50 percent of the eligible costs. The grant is the smaller of the two.

Not when a private person owns it, because the grant is not awarded to private persons. The applicant must be a corporation that owns a residential building, such as a housing company or a corporation owning state-subsidised rental housing. A housing company made up of several small houses can apply, and the small-house requirement of a 28 percent improvement applies to it.

Yes. When a heat pump fully replaces oil or gas heating, its cost counts toward the eligible costs in full. For any other heat-pump system, including a hybrid that keeps the oil or gas boiler in use, 40 percent of its cost counts. Conversion to district heating is not eligible outside buildings heated with oil or gas.

The E-number as the building was built, with the structures, ventilation and heating of its construction period. A consultant calculates it or Apex Heat App estimates it from the register data. When Apex Heat App cannot make the estimate, it uses the current-state E-number as the reference.

No. The calculation is a preliminary estimate to support preparing the application. The grant is awarded by Varke on the basis of the application and its attachments.