Set up in 2020 and piloted by the National Housing Agency (Anah), MaPrimeRnov’ aims to help low-income French people renovate their homes to reduce their energy consumption and their greenhouse gas emissions.
The Defender of Rights points, in a decision published on Monday, to serious recurring technical malfunctions of the public system of aid for energy renovation MaPrimeRnov’ after having received nearly 500 complaints. Set up in 2020 and piloted by the National Housing Agency (Anah), MaPrimeRnov’ aims to help low-income French people renovate their homes to reduce their energy consumption and their greenhouse gas emissions.
But the online procedures to obtain it are meshed with many dysfunctions, underlines the independent authority headed by Claire Hdon, which indicates that it has received nearly 500 complaints in two years. First of all, recurring computer problems on the portal where users must imperatively create an account to carry out their procedures.
MaPrimeRenov ‘: the galley of individuals to receive state aid
A breach of equality before the public service
The absence of an alternative creates a breach of equality before the public service, alerting the independent authority, which has already denounced on several occasions the excessive dematerialization of public services.
Some households that were unable to create an account and were unable to compile their file before starting their work saw their application refused on the grounds… that it had been made too late.
Refusing the bonus to these applicants is tantamount to Anah sanctioning them for its own shortcomings, believes the Defender of Rights.
Others were unable to add the necessary documents to their file, nor to modify an error in it, due to technical limitations, forcing them to continue their process despite the errors, and then start from scratch or file an appeal.
The telephone assistance promised by Anah does not help enough, with advisers difficult to reach and answers varying from one interlocutor to another.
The Defender of Rights also notes extremely long processing times for cases opened in 2020 or 2021 and still unresolved.
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Beneficiaries, with already modest incomes, thus sink into precariousness while waiting for their aid to be paid, some having gone into debt to pay for their work.
In her recommendations to Anah, the Defender of Rights asks for the definitive resolution of the technical difficulties reported, the reduction of processing times for files faced with difficulties, the improvement of user information, the possibility of opening files other than online and to regularize all requests for assistance that have not been successful due to difficulties attributable to the implementation of the system.
She asks the agency to report to her within three months.
Contacted by AFP, Anah said it took note of the recommendations while ensuring that the vast majority of cases went smoothly. According to the agency, the system has met with great success with more than 1.25 million beneficiaries and an overall satisfaction rate of 89%.
It also ensures that the relationship with users has been strengthened and that the average processing time for complete files is 15 working days, with up to 25,000 files processed per week.
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