Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 September 2023
136. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the name of organisations who have been approved for one stop shop services for retrofitting homes; the expected number of upgrades which is expected to be able to complete per year when fully operational, and if the level of national coverage has yet been achieved. [41985/23]
View answerThe 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.
In February 2022, Government announced an enhanced package of measures to support the uptake of home energy upgrades. This included the introduction of a new National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme and the establishment of a network of registered One Stop Shops to offer a start-to-finish project management service for home energy upgrades.
There are now 17 One-Stop-Shops registered by SEAI. Of these, five were registered in the 2nd Quarter of 2023, which points to growing confidence in the sector about the future growth prospects of the retrofit market. The One-Stop-Shop service has delivered 839 homes so far this year, representing a 161% increase on the same period last year.
As part of the registration process, applicant organisations are required to submit a strategic plan to SEAI. These plans include a minimum 2 year forward focused plan setting out their approach to home energy upgrades and describe its development and growth plans under the new Scheme.
The One-Stop-Shops are distributed across Ireland, with nine offering services nationwide through their network of contractors throughout the country and eight working within geographic regions. Details of the registered One Stop Shops, including their contact details, are available on the SEAI website at: www.seai.ie/grants/home-energy-grants/one-stop-shop/registered-providers/.
SEAI also continue to actively engage with the construction sector with the aim of attracting more companies to register as One-Stop-Shops. A number of companies are already in the process of registering as one-stop-shops and SEAI are guiding them through the registration process, with the expectation that by year end the number of registered One-Stop-Shops will have increased to 20.
My Department is working with SEAI to build the required capacity across the range of residential and community energy efficiency schemes, including the National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme, to deliver, on average, approximately 75,000 B2-equivalent home upgrades per year from 2026 to 2030 to achieve the overall target of 500,000 by 2030. A significant number of these upgrades will be through One-Stop-Shops.
