Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2017
495. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated cost based on 2016 figures of increasing each grant value under the better energy homeowner grants to twice their value; and the estimated cost of increasing the solar heating grant to five times its value. [30830/17]
View answerThe Better Energy Homes Scheme is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) on behalf of my Department. The scheme supports private homeowners who wish to improve the energy performance of their home. Fixed grants are provided towards the cost of a range of measures including attic insulation, wall insulation, heating system upgrades, solar thermal panels and accompanying Building Energy Rating (BER).
The measures currently offered were selected as the best balance that could be achieved between the resources available to the scheme, the number of homes that can receive support and the energy savings that can delivered. In short, the measures supported are those that can deliver the most energy savings at the lowest cost to the highest number of people.
The following table shows the cash impact if the level of each grant under the Better Energy Homes scheme (excluding the BER) were doubled and demand for grants was identical to that experienced in 2016. However, it must be noted that it is not simply a case of multiplying the 2016 allocation. Doubling the grants available would likely result in a significant increase in demand for grants, which would mean that it would be likely that the Exchequer resources devoted to the programme would also have to increase quite significantly to cope with this increased demand.
Broadly speaking the grants available are set at around 30-35% of the projected cost of each measure. Doubling grant levels would certainly increase demand for grants but would result in a lower return of energy savings for each euro of Government investment and would thus represent poorer value for money for taxpayers.
Quintupling the grant level for solar heating would result in a grant that covers more than 150% of the cost of installing a solar heating system. In other words, anyone who installed a solar heating system would receive a net benefit of approximately €2,000. This would be effective at promoting deployment of solar heating but again would not represent good value for money for the taxpayer and would place a considerable stress on the construction industry as they would have to adapt to what would likely be a very high spike in demand.
|
Measure |
Number of Grants Paid (Excluding BER) |
Value of Grants Paid 2016 (€) |
Value of Grants Paid If Average Grant Doubled (€) |
|
Roof Insulation |
5,279 |
1,595,393 |
3,190,785 |
|
Cavity |
4,573 |
1,406,562 |
2,813,124 |
|
Dry-Lining Insulation |
733 |
1,396,364 |
2,792,728 |
|
External Insulation |
1,274 |
4,736,443 |
9,472,886 |
|
H.E Gas Boiler with Heating Control Upgrade |
4,516 |
3,306,150 |
6,612,300 |
|
H.E Oil Boiler with Heating Control Upgrade |
1,390 |
1,069,850 |
2,139,700 |
|
Heating Controls Upgrade Only |
1,286 |
835,180 |
1,670,361 |
|
Solar Heating |
1,588 |
1,980,500 |
3,961,000 |
|
Total |
20,639 |
16,326,442 |
32,652,884 |
