Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 September 2023
104. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications what efforts are being made by his Department to reduce the 24 month waiting period for the warmer home schemes; if he will outline any further plans to review solar grants for young couples wishing to implement same. [41553/23]
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.
Increased awareness of the multiple benefits of retrofit and improvements to the Warmer Homes Scheme are driving increased levels of demand for the scheme. This can be seen in application numbers with almost 20,000 applications received over the period January 2022 to end August 2023.
The scheme has been delivering a greater volume of deeper and more complex upgrades in recent years. This is reflected in the average cost of upgrades which has increased to €24,000 in 2023. While more significant works deliver enhanced upgrades for homeowners, they do take a longer time per home to complete.
Despite this, the average waiting time from application to completion has reduced from 26 months for homes completed in 2022 to 19 months for homes completed in Q2 2023. The reduction in wait times follows a range of measures introduced by the Department and SEAI including enhanced budgets; increased staffing resources in SEAI; and actions to address supply chain challenges. Almost 3,500 homes have been upgraded this year to end-August. My officials continue to work with the SEAI to maximise and accelerate output of free energy upgrades delivered.
In relation to Solar PV grants, the Government approved the Microgeneration Support Scheme in December 2021 which provides support to domestic and non-domestic applicants for renewable installations up to 50kW. These applicants will also be eligible to avail of the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) tariff which allows micro- and small-scale generators to receive payment from their electricity supplier for all excess renewable electricity they export to the grid, reflective of the market value of the electricity.
Key changes from the previous pilot scheme for domestic solar PV, include the removal of the minimum BER C requirement and the extension of eligibility to homes built before 2021 (up from 2011). This has significantly increased the number of homes now eligible for grant support.
Domestic applicants can apply to the SEAI for a grant towards the cost of installing equipment. In 2022/23, the grants are €900/kW up to 2kW, and a further €300/kW between 2kWe and 4kWe, for a total maximum grant amount of €2,400.
