Details of house energy upgrade grants in 2022 released

Over 27,000 homes received grants to upgrade their homes in 2022, recently released figures show. 

The Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications Eamonn Ryan and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) published a report on Monday, March 27 giving details of the almost 27,200 home energy upgrades supported through Government funded SEAI grant schemes in 2022.

This is the first of a regular planned quarterly update on progress against the Climate Action Plan target to upgrade 500,000 homes to BER B2 or better by 2030. 

Among the key insights in the report are: 

·         27,199 property upgrades were completed in 2022, up almost 80% on the previous year 

·         Of these upgrades, 4.438 were fully funded upgrades for low-income households, up 85% year on year.  

·         437 Approved Housing Body homes were supported under the One-Stop-Shop Scheme and an additional 95 low-income houses were supported under the Community Energy Grants Scheme.  

·         Roof and cavity wall insulation measures, the simplest thing you can do to maintain heat in your home, grew by 107% between 2021 and 2022 

·         The number of homes upgraded to a BER B2 almost doubled, to 8,481.

Friends of the Earth recently commissioned research which lays out the most effective policies needed to positively impact both the planet and vulnerable groups. It makes 49 separate recommendations to Government based on fieldwork, research and analysis across the following areas. Recommendations on retrofitting and house upgrades include:

The Government should prioritise increasing eligibility for the SEAI free retrofitting scheme, zero interest or low cost loan or other models of financing retrofits, as well as community energy advisors, street-by-street insulation programmes and district heating systems.

A much more ambitious target should be set for the retrofitting of social housing, setting a minimum standard of B2 to be achieved in all social housing by 2030 and increasing investment in the Department of Housing’s social housing retrofit scheme.