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Regione Basilicata opened a €18.80 million call (€18,802,521) on 16 October 2026 for the energy retrofit of public lighting owned by the region’s municipalities and by the Provinces of Potenza and Matera, with applications accepted until 12:00 on 15 February 2027. The funding sits under Action 3.2.1.B of the PR FESR FSE+ 2021-2027 regional programme, each eligible body may file one project, and the grant of up to 85% of eligible cost is conditional on a subsidised loan from Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) covering the remaining 15% to 20%.
The measure was presented in Potenza in June 2026 and approved by the regional executive on the proposal of Environment and Energy Transition assessor Laura Mongiello, according to the regional press office and ANSA. Applications run through the region’s Centrale Bandi platform, and works must finish within 36 months of the financing agreement and no later than 30 June 2030.
Three Intervention Lines With Caps On Everything Except The LED Replacement
Line A is mandatory and covers replacement of existing luminaires with LED units that meet the Italian Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM) and deliver at least 30% energy saving, as reported by QualEnergia.
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Line B finances smart telecontrol, telemanagement and adaptive lighting, and Line C covers the safety of poles, lines and control panels together with light-pollution reduction. Each of the two optional lines is capped at 20% of the investment, and new light points may account for no more than 10%.
With Lines B and C each limited to 20%, Line A has to carry at least 60% of the investment in every application, so remote management and adaptive lighting can account for a fifth of the spending at most and the call finances luminaire replacement first and the control layer second.
A Grant That Only Exists Alongside The CDP Loan
The financing mixes a non-repayable grant of up to 85% with a CDP loan of 15% to 20% at subsidised rates, so a municipality seeking full coverage of eligible cost must borrow at least 15% of it. The grant is conditional on taking the loan, which moves part of the decision from the technical office to the municipal finance department.
On 25 June 2025 the region and CDP signed a convention to run financial instruments under the 2021-2027 ERDF priority, with up to €100.61 million of regional resources, of which up to €39.52 million is reserved for public bodies: €29.52 million in direct debt and €10 million in cash-collateral guarantees on CDP loans. The convention runs to 31 December 2030 and sets a CDP management commission of 5.75% of the resources disbursed or set aside for guarantees. Regione Basilicata has said the lighting call follows an agreement with CDP signed the previous year.
Delivery can follow an ordinary public tender, an energy performance contract with an energy service company certified to UNI CEI 11352, or a public-private partnership. The notice awards up to 4 bonus points: 2 for the use of building information modelling (BIM) and 2 for projects in Potenza, Matera or the inner areas (Aree Interne).
What The Regional Cadastre And The €200 Unit Cost Imply
Funding is calibrated on the Catasto regionale della Pubblica Illuminazione, a register built by the regional Environment Department after a tender covering the lighting systems of 131 municipalities split into 5 lots. The region applies a reference unit cost of €200 per light point to municipalities that do not already hold an integrated lighting service concession.
At that unit cost the full allocation would correspond to 94,012 light points, an arithmetic ceiling calculated for this article that ignores applicants outside the reference calculation and the cost of the optional lines. The 131 municipalities and the 2 provinces yield 133 possible applicants, or an average of €141,372 each if the money were divided evenly.
Presenting the call in June, Laura Mongiello, regional assessor for Environment and Energy Transition, said: “We aim to redesign the lighting infrastructure of our municipalities, making it smart, safe and sustainable”, as reported by SassiLive from the 2026 presentation in Potenza.
Regional Precedents Show Demand Running Ahead Of Budget
The closest recent comparator is the Sardinia region’s lighting call under its 2021-2027 programme. A ranking determination of 16 February 2026 records 100 applications by a deadline extended from 16 October to 17 November 2025, requesting €38,277,653.47 against €14,000,000, with the first 29 applicants fundable immediately. Requests under sub-action 3.1.2.a totalled €33,790,200.62 against €10,000,000 allocated, and those under sub-action 3.3.1.b totalled €4,487,452.85 against €4,000,000, so the pressure fell almost entirely on one of the two budget lines.
Applied to Basilicata’s €18.80 million, the same ratio of 2.73 times would mean requests of about €51.4 million, although the two programmes differ in their financing terms and the comparison is indicative only.
An earlier case came from Calabria, where the 2014-2020 programme funded 33 of 46 applicants for more than €11.2 million in one ranking of November 2018, within a €45 million call that had admitted 230 administrations in total.
The window spans 122 days from 16 October 2026 to 15 February 2027, which leaves councils that must size a loan and choose a delivery route within roughly four months, and the number of municipalities that accept the mandatory CDP loan will show whether the grant-plus-debt design draws more projects than the €18.80 million can fund, or leaves part of the allocation unused ahead of the 30 June 2030 completion date.
