Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 September 2017
574. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if a home that previously received funding under the better energy warmer homes scheme for a specific measure, for example attic insulation, is then ineligible for further grants under the better energy warmer homes scheme. [39464/17]
View answerThe Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme delivers a range of energy efficiency measures, free of charge, to low income households vulnerable to energy poverty that meet the defined eligibility criteria. The scheme is delivered through a combination of SEAI appointed Community Based Organisations (CBOs), augmented by a panel of private contractors in order to ensure national coverage. The measures available include draught proofing, attic insulation, lagging jackets for hot water tanks, low energy light bulbs, cavity wall insulation and energy advice. To date nearly 125,000 homes have benefitted from an energy efficiency upgrade under the scheme.
Over the scheme’s lifetime, the works offered have evolved to keep pace with technological developments and higher technical standards. The standards that apply to the scheme’s delivery today are set by the National Standards Authority of Ireland’s Code of Practice on Setting the Standard for Energy Efficient Retrofit (SR54) which came into force in 2014.
There are more than 400,000 homes in Ireland eligible for upgrade under the Warmer Homes scheme and to date the scheme has upgraded approximately 125,000 of these. With the limited resources available to the scheme, priority must be given to those who have never received works under the scheme. This precludes the scheme from revisiting most past participants. However, as I announced at this year's Energy Action Conference on Energy Poverty, the Warmer Homes scheme now accepts applications from past participants where no wall insulation whatsoever was offered. So in the case of a person who has only received attic insulation previously under the scheme they are now eligible to reapply and receive cavity wall insulation, assuming their home is suitable for such.
