As of 1 July 2018, connection to the district heating network will become mandatory in Grenoble. This measure concerns the buildings located near the Grenoble Métropole heat network, which represents a total of approximately 500 buildings.

New buildings and those replacing their collective heating system will then have to comply with this regulation, unless they already have a less expensive system or a system that uses mainly renewable energies. In addition to the 1,000 buildings already connected to the heating network, the municipality aims to connect 500 new buildings, with the objective of highlighting the economic and environmental benefits of heat networks.

As an environmental advantage, it should be noted that the Grenoble district heating network is currently supplied with 65% renewable and recovery energy but as a result of the replacement of fuel boilers by green energy, this rate could reach 85% in 2022.

This initiative is also set to deliver an economic advantage to the city as the connection to the network should reduce the cost of heating per user. For a 70 square metre apartment, the cost of heating currently amounts to 1,336 euros per year for collective fuel and about 1,853 euros per year for an individual electrical system. For users connected to the network, this cost could therefore be reduced to 1,164 euros a year