What MITECO has put to public hearing
The Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) held, from 3 to 23 September 2026, a public hearing and information procedure on a draft real decreto amending Real Decreto 36/2023 of 24 January 2023. That royal decree created the Spanish energy savings certificates scheme, the Certificados de Ahorro Energético (CAE).
A CAE is an electronic document that recognises the annual final energy saving achieved by an energy efficiency action (actuación). That action falls either under the catalogue of standardised sheets or under a so-called singular study. Real Decreto 36/2023 issues each CAE for a value of 1 kWh, with no decimals, and makes it indivisible.
The consultation page justifies the reform by developments in European law, in particular Directive (EU) 2023/1791 on energy efficiency, and by the experience of the first years of operation. It also mentions Real Decreto-ley 7/2026 of 20 March 2026, which designated OMIE and MIBGAS to develop and manage the scheme's electronic platform.
According to the explanatory memorandum of the draft text, its single article amends twenty-five provisions of the decree. It adds two chapters: one on energy savings auctions, the other on inspection, control and penalties. The amending decree will enter into force on the day after its publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE).
Longer processing times, counted in working days
The most visible change concerns the procedure. Under the decree in force, the Gestor Autonómico examines the application and issues the CAE itself. The Gestor Autonómico is the body that each autonomous community designates for energy efficiency. The draft separates two roles: the Gestor Autonómico drafts a validation report, then the scheme's Coordinador Nacional decides and orders entry in the National Register.
Time limits become longer and are now counted in working days (días hábiles).
| Stage | Real Decreto 36/2023 in force | Draft put to public hearing |
|---|---|---|
| Review by the Gestor Autonómico (standardised / singular) | 15 / 30 days to issue the CAE | 25 / 40 working days for the validation report |
| From application to entry in the National Register | 20 / 35 days | 30 / 45 working days |
| Administrative silence at the end of the time limit | Counts as acceptance | Counts as acceptance |
| Retention of documents after settlement | At least 3 years | At least 4 years |
The draft adds two procedural rules. An application that does not correctly identify the Gestor Autonómico of the community where the works took place is rejected and archived, and may then be filed again. The verifier's favourable opinion must exist before the application date: if it is dated later, the defect can no longer be remedied and leads to an unfavourable decision.
One point directly concerns verifiers. If the Coordinador Nacional rejects a file for defects that the verifier should have detected, a new application is admissible only with the opinion of a different verifier.
A new settlement timetable
Settlement (liquidación) of a CAE is the operation by which a sujeto obligado has an energy saving recognised towards its annual obligation. A sujeto obligado, or obligated party, is a company that Article 69 of Law 18/2014 makes subject to the national energy savings obligation.
The draft sets 20 March of the following year as the deadline for the settlement request, for CAE applied for before 1 December of the obligation year. A sujeto obligado that does not hold enough CAE pays the financial equivalent into the National Energy Efficiency Fund (FNEE) no later than 31 March of the following year.
A transitional provision would apply for as long as the electronic platform entrusted to the operator is not running. During that period, a CAE could be settled after 31 December if its issuance application was filed no later than 31 October of the obligation year. The settlement request would then have to be made before the following 15 February, and transfers of CAE intended for that settlement before 31 January.
The draft also frames the lifetime of the certificates. A CAE could be registered up to three years after the end of the action, for an action started on or after 26 January 2023 and completed before 1 January 2031. It could be settled within three years of execution, and no later than 20 March 2031.
A sujeto obligado that has settled more CAE than needed could carry the surplus over to the following period, up to 5 % of the previous year's obligation. Beyond that ceiling, or outside the conditions laid down, the surplus CAE would be cancelled with no entitlement for their holder.
Aggregators, delegated parties, sales: tighter rules for market players
The draft replaces the convenio CAE with a savings assignment contract (contrato de cesión de ahorros). This contract transfers ownership of the energy saving and must ensure its traceability, from the original owner to the CAE applicant. When the original owner assigns its saving, it necessarily does so in return for consideration.
The text creates the figure of the savings aggregator (agregador de ahorros). This is a natural or legal person established in Spain that acquires the saving from the original owner and then transfers it to a sujeto obligado or delegado. Only one aggregator may stand between the original owner and the CAE applicant.
For sujetos delegados, or delegated parties, the draft prohibits entrusting the settlement duty to a third party, even in part. It requires them to notify the Coordinador Nacional, within 15 working days, of the details of each delegation contract and of any changes to it. The loss of an accreditation condition would have to be reported within 5 working days.
Two further rules affect the market. Only sujetos obligados whose obligation for the previous year exceeds 500 MWh could file CAE application files themselves. The seller of a CAE would inform the Coordinador Nacional of the sale within five days, stating the price in €/kWh, a figure treated as confidential.
Finally, the draft specifies what is not an energy efficiency action. Excluded are routine maintenance or replacement after a breakdown with no performance gain, works that merely meet a minimum legal or technical requirement, and actions whose additionality cannot be demonstrated.
What does not change in the meantime: CAE arising from 2023 actions
The draft does not apply yet. For the current year, the reference remains MITECO's clarification note of 2 June 2026. It points out that 2026 is the first year fully subject to the general regime: the year's obligation must be settled before 31 December 2026.
The note relies on Article 11.5 of Real Decreto 36/2023, which allows a CAE to be registered up to three years after the action that produced the saving. Its conclusion leaves no room for doubt: «Los CAE correspondientes a actuaciones de 2023 deberán emitirse y liquidarse […] antes del 31 de diciembre de 2026». In other words, CAE for 2023 actions must be issued and settled, in any event, before that date.
The note adds that a CAE arising from a 2023 action cannot be validly issued in 2027, even if its application was filed with the Gestor Autonómico before 1 December 2026. Yet the decree in force allows up to twenty days between the issuance application and the final registration of a standardised CAE. A 2023 file submitted at the end of the year therefore leaves very little margin.
What it changes for you
For a project owner or a manufacturer
You are the original owner of the energy saving. The draft does not change that status, but it formalises the chain linking you to the sujeto obligado or delegado: assignment contract, one aggregator at most, mandatory consideration. The CAE applicant would also have to obtain your commitment to keep the measure in operation throughout its declared lifetime.
If you carried out works in 2023 that have not yet given rise to a CAE, the window closes on 31 December 2026.
For an installer or an intermediary
The aggregator becomes a legal figure in its own right, with an explicit obligation: to guarantee that the original owner receives the consideration needed for the incentive effect. Arrangements with several successive intermediaries would no longer be allowed.
For a sujeto obligado or a sujeto delegado
The timetable follows a new logic: settlement request until 20 March, payment of the balance to the FNEE until 31 March, surplus carry-over capped at 5 %. Longer processing times mean filing earlier. Notifications to the Coordinador Nacional, for delegation contracts as well as for CAE sales, become more numerous.
What we recommend
Plan 2026 under the law in force. Until the amending decree is published in the BOE, the deadlines of Real Decreto 36/2023 and of the note of 2 June 2026 apply. A backward schedule built on the draft's time limits would be premature.
Identify your 2023 actions now. For each one, establish the status of the CAE: applied for, issued, registered or settled. This is the only category facing a firm deadline this year.
Review current contracts. Agreements concluded as a convenio CAE and chains with several intermediaries will have to be checked against the final text as soon as it is published.
Follow the final version. A draft put to public hearing can still change: time limits, thresholds, transitional regime. We will update this article when the decree is published in the BOE.
Our engineering consultancy examines each action against the texts applicable on its execution date, and supports the file through to its valuation. See our approach to energy savings files, the markets we follow, including Spain, our analysis of the French draft withdrawing CEE sheets or write to us to examine a specific action.
