The National Retrofit Plan 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 (BER) of B2/cost optimal level and installing 400,000 heat pumps to replace older, less efficient heating systems by 2030.
To promote and incentivise the achievement of these targets, last year, the Government launched a package of significantly enhanced supports to make it easier and more affordable for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades.
Following the introduction of the new measures, 27,200 home energy upgrades were supported in 2022, which represents a 79% increase on 2021 output levels.
My Department is working with SEAI to continue to build on the strong performance of 2022. A record €356 million in funding has been allocated to SEAI for residential and community retrofit for 2023 to support the delivery of 37,000 home energy upgrades this year. Figures to end of June 2023 show 21,733 home energy upgrades have been delivered so far this year, equating to 58% of the overall target for 2023.
The latest SEAI data available to my Department for average waiting times covers Quarter 1, 2023 and is set out below, along with the corresponding timeframes, where available, for 2022 for the various schemes operated by the SEAI:
• The Better Energy Homes Scheme and Solar PV Scheme are demand-led schemes which require homeowners to procure their own contractor following grant approval from SEAI (this approval process is instantaneous once all requirements for the SEAI grant application portal are met by applicants). Works must be completed within an 8-month period, starting from the date of grant approval. Figures from SEAI show that under the Better Energy Homes Scheme the average cycle time for applications completed in 2022 was 3.6 months. The corresponding figure for Quarter 1 2023 was 5.3 months. For the Solar PV Scheme, the figures are 5.5 months for applications completed in 2022 and the corresponding figure for Quarter 1, 2023 was 5 months.
• Under the National Home Energy Home Upgrade Scheme and Community Energy Grant Scheme, homeowners engage a registered One Stop Shop or Project Co-ordinator, respectively, to manage the grant application process and oversee delivery of the retrofit on their behalf. Works must be completed under these schemes within 12 months. While waiting times for these Schemes is not routinely reported to the Department, data from the SEAI shows that for home upgrades completed in Quarter 1, 2023 the average waiting times for the National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme was 4.7 months.
• The Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme (WHS) delivers a range of energy efficiency measures free of charge to low-income households vulnerable to energy poverty. For home upgrades completed in 2022, the average cycle time from application to completion was 27.5 months. It should be borne in mind that at the time cycle times were affected by COVID related issues. For home upgrades completed in Quarter 1, 2023 the average waiting times for the Warmer Homes Scheme was 21 months.
A more detailed overview of the SEAI 2022 performance against annual targets on the residential and community energy efficiency schemes can be found in their recently published quarterly report, which can be found on the SEAI website at: www.seai.ie/news-and-media/home-energy-upgrades-2022/. A report on Q1 2023 performance on the residential and community energy efficiency schemes is available at SEAI-Retrofit-Quarterly-Report-Q1-2023.pdf. The progress report for Quarter 2, 2023 is being prepared by SEAI and will be available shortly.
