Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 July 2022
230. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the Government’s target for homes retrofitted to B2 standard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39521/22]
View answerThe Programme for Government and the Climate Action Plan set ambitious targets to retrofit 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating of B2 (or cost optimal equivalent), and to install 400,000 heat pumps to replace existing heating systems by 2030. The review of the National Development Plan (NDP) resulted in an unprecedented financial commitment to support achievement of the Government’s retrofit targets. A total of €8 billion of Exchequer funding (including €5 billion in carbon tax revenues) will be available to support residential upgrades to 2030. Achieving B2 status for homeowners is central to the new National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme which was launched earlier this year. The Scheme introduces a new, highly customer centric, way to undertake home upgrades. SEAI registered One-Stop-Shops will provide an end-to-end service for homeowners. This includes surveying; designing the upgrades; managing the grant process; helping with access to finance; engaging contractors; and quality assurance. The Scheme offers unprecedented grant levels, increased from around 30% to 50% of the cost of a typical B2 home energy upgrade with a heat pump.
This year, the SEAI has a target to support 27,000 home energy upgrades across all schemes including 8,640 homes to a post-works Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2.
Figures from the SEAI show that to the end of June, 8,628 homes have been completed across the residential and community schemes, of these 2,681 have been upgraded to a post works BER of B2 or better.
