Can Moroccan Businesses Contract for Measured Energy Savings?
Morocco now has an authorization framework and a published list of energy-service companies. That makes performance-based efficiency projects more actionable, but authorization does not guarantee a saving, financing or a suitable contract.
Businesses can now check an official list of authorized energy-service companies.
Morocco has created an authorization framework for companies that contract around energy performance. The Ministry published its first authorized-company list in March 2026.
An energy-service company, commonly shortened to ESCO, develops an efficiency project and remains responsible for proving its energy result under the agreed contract. A normal equipment supplier may sell a chiller, motor or control system. An ESCO arrangement also connects the proposed work to a baseline, a measurement plan and a performance commitment.
Consider a hotel whose cooling plant consumes too much electricity. An ESCO could study the plant, propose selected improvements, structure their implementation and track energy use afterward. The hotel should still be able to see which work is included, how the saving will be calculated and what happens if the result differs from the commitment.
Decree 2-24-153 assigns authorization to the ministry responsible for the energy transition and requires the authorized list to be published. The current official document is dated 9 March 2026 and should be checked again before procurement. See the MTEDD authorized ESCO list and the official decree published through AMEE.
The contract joins the technical project to a measurable result.
The central document is an energy performance contract. It defines a project, a time period and the method used to compare promised and achieved energy performance.
The site and improvement scope
The energy baseline
The performance commitment
The commercial arrangement
Morocco's public SIE describes advisory, implementation, performance-contract and financing-support roles in its official service model. Private offers remain project- and contract-specific.
The project needs a comparison that remains fair after conditions change.
Energy use after the work is compared with an agreed baseline. The method must also explain how relevant changes in weather, occupancy, production or operating hours are treated.
Savings are calculated against an agreed comparison, not against a promise.
The baseline represents how the named site used energy before the project. Agreed adjustments account for relevant changes such as weather, activity or operating hours before measured use is compared with that baseline.
Suppose the hotel becomes busier after the cooling project. Its total electricity use could rise even though the upgraded plant performs better. The agreed method should separate the effect of higher occupancy from the effect of the efficiency work instead of declaring success or failure from two bills.
Decree 2-24-153 requires a detailed measurement-and-verification plan and written agreement when the baseline changes. For the owner, the practical test is simple: another qualified reader should be able to reproduce the comparison from the retained meter, operating and calculation records.
Move from an efficiency idea to a project whose evidence can be checked.
The new framework provides a clearer provider category. It does not replace the owner’s project definition, technical due diligence or contract review.
- 01
Confirm the provider’s current status.
Check the Ministry’s latest authorized ESCO list for the company proposing the performance contract. Do not rely on a logo, presentation or an old copy of the list.
- 02
Define the operating problem before selecting equipment.
Name the site, affected system, operating hours, known changes and intended business result. A product quotation is not yet an energy-performance project.
- 03
Establish a usable baseline.
Preserve bills, meter records, production or occupancy information, maintenance history and the exact measurement boundary before work changes the evidence.
- 04
Request the proposed comparison method.
Ask which meters, variables, adjustment rules, reporting periods and data-access rights will support the final saving calculation.
- 05
Compare responsibility and financing separately.
Identify who designs, funds, installs, operates, maintains, measures and remedies underperformance. These responsibilities need not sit with the same party.
If the site does not yet have a dependable energy baseline, start with the Technical and Energy Audit Playbook before trying to contract around a saving that cannot yet be measured.
Authorization identifies the provider category; the contract defines the owner’s protection.
A credible proposal makes the project boundary, calculation and responsibilities visible before the owner commits money or operating access.
Which equipment, buildings and energy sources are inside the project boundary?
Which baseline period and operating records support the promised result?
Which variables can adjust the baseline, and who approves each adjustment?
Which meters, data rights, reporting periods and calculation method will verify performance?
Who funds, owns, operates and maintains each installed asset during the contract?
Which performance commitment, remedy, dispute process and handover record apply?
Questions to resolve before relying on a performance offer.
The answers depend on the selected commercial model, so the contract must replace assumptions with named responsibilities.
A measurable contract begins with a baseline both parties can inspect.
Morocco’s authorized ESCO framework gives businesses a clearer way to identify energy-performance providers. It does not turn a proposed saving into a result by itself. Confirm the provider’s status, define the operating boundary, agree the measurement method and keep financing, ownership and performance remedies explicit.
Recheck the official authorized list before signing and preserve the baseline, raw measurements, adjustment approvals and final performance record throughout the contract.
Reviewed against Morocco's published framework on 2 August 2026. This analysis is practical buyer education, not contract-specific legal advice.
