Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 January 2023
182. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of homes at each pre-works BER ratings that achieved B2 cost optimum standards in each of the years 2020 to 2022, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2781/23]
View answerThe National Retrofit Plan, published in November 2021 sets out the Government's approach to achieving the Climate Action Plan targets of upgrading the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating of B2 by the end of 2030.
A key milestone in implementing the Plan was reached in February last year, when the Government launched a package of supports to make it easier and more affordable for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades, for warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes, with lower energy bills. Free upgrades are available for households at risk of energy poverty under the Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme.
Demand across the SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes (including Solar PV) was exceptionally high in 2022. Preliminary figures from SEAI indicate that, as of end-December:
- Almost 49,700 applications for support were submitted to SEAI in 2022, representing a 150% increase on 2021 figures.
- Over 27,700 home energy upgrades were supported in 2022, exceeding the target of 26,940. This represents a 79% increase in outputs year on year.
- Of these, over 9,000 upgrades were to a post works Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2 or better, which is double the B2 upgrades supported in 2021.
My Department is working with SEAI to build on this strong performance across the schemes with a robust pipeline of activity carried forward from 2022 into 2023.
With regard to the specific data sought by the Deputy, it is acknowledged that the collection of both pre and post works Building Energy Ratings (BER) data offers a broad range of benefits, including: more effective retrofit design; more housing stock data; and greater homeowner understanding of their property. For this reason, the requirement for both pre and post works BER information was introduced under the Warmer Homes Scheme and the National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme (OSS Scheme) in February 2022. The provision of both pre and post works BER information is a requirement for homes upgraded under the Community Energy Grant Scheme. However, a pre-works BER is not a requirement under the Better Energy Homes or the Solar PV Scheme.
As such, the SEAI has advised that the specific data sets requested by the Deputy on pre-works BERs are not currently available for all upgraded homes for the indicated period.
