Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 November 2023
11. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications what measures are being taken to reduce the current wait times, currently in excess of 24 months, on works completing from applications made on free energy upgrades under the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50244/23]
View answerThe free energy upgrade scheme is a very valuable scheme for supporting people, especially lower income households, by putting in insulation and helping them reduce costs. It takes some time to process those applications and to give householders the benefit of those schemes. Will the Minister outline the measures that will bring those schemes and deliver them in a more timely manner to needy households?
The better energy warmer homes scheme delivers a range of energy efficiency measures free of charge to households vulnerable to energy poverty. This year's budget of €148.5 million is the highest ever. Increased awareness of the multiple benefits of retrofit and improvements to the warmer home schemes is driving increased levels of demand for the scheme, with more than 20,000 applications received over the period from January 2022 to the end of September this year. The scheme is delivering deeper upgrades with more emissions reductions and energy savings for homeowners. The average cost of upgrades increased to €24,000 in 2023, and these deeper upgrades take a longer time per home to complete. To the end of October this year, more than 4,500 homes have been upgraded. This are already more homes than were completed under the scheme in all of last year. We are on target to upgrade 6,000 homes under the scheme by the end of the year.
The average waiting time from application to completion by quarter 3 of 2023 was just under 20 months. This is a decrease from the average of 26 months for homes completed in 2022. The reduction in wait times follows a range of measures introduced by the Department and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, including enhanced budgets, increased staffing resources in the SEAI, and actions to address supply chain challenges. The SEAI has also established a new contractor panel in September this year, adding seven additional contractors, bringing the total to 36. My officials continue to work with the SEAI to maximise and accelerate the output of free energy upgrades delivered.
I thank the Minister. As he has said, there is quite a strong demand for the scheme, which reflects the need in so many households to carry out the works. It is positive that additional contractors are now involved in it. From dealing with the different applications, I can see that the big issue is more at the processing stage of the application. At this stage it is in the region of ten months to get a BER inspection. That only opens up the opportunity thereafter to get the survey of the different works required. Once they get a hold of the job, there is no major delay from the contractor side of it. Currently, applications are taking in the region of 24 months. That is two winters. It is very hard on a household that cannot afford it. The upfront aspect of it, including getting the BER inspection and the survey done, needs to be prioritised. Will the Minister give an outline on the steps in that aspect of the processing of the application?
I absolutely accept the frustration about the long lead times and particularly around getting the BER to be able to make an application. We must be careful. We are putting significant funding into this and we have put in an additional €150 million. It is not a small investment, it has been massively ramped up and it will continue to become available. I keep reiterating that one of the benefits in this Government having the carbon tax system we do is that we know it is going to increase year on year and that a very large part of that money is going to the warmer homes scheme: 30% goes to social welfare increases to protect the most vulnerable and 55% goes to retrofitting and targeting in particular lower income homes through the warmer homes schemes, for example. I could really see that during the recent budget negotiations. I knew I had that increase in the bank before we even started any negotiations. This gives certainty to the contractors. We were able to deploy those new contractors. They know this business is not going away. They know it will be done systematically. I would love to have all 20,000 houses that have applied done and not just the 6,000, but that is 6,000 homes. It is not an insignificant improvement to the quality of life for the people in every one of those 6,000 homes. It is coming because of this steady, certain and properly financed method we have put in place.
I readily acknowledge the huge improvement it makes for those 6,000 homes and families and that there is substantial funding in place for the scheme. There is great demand for it and it will be very successful when households get the work done. The issue is getting approval and moving through the process.
Getting the BER inspection done can take up to ten months. People who made applications in February of this year have still not had a BER inspection. After that, a survey is needed to determine the extent of works. These steps are clearly under the control of the SEAI and need to be focused on to improve those timelines. Realistically, two winters from when a person makes an application to getting an inspection is very challenging. It is great once the work is done and it is very meaningful, but will the Minister outline if measures can be taken to get a quicker turnaround on the BER inspection and survey to identify the works required and release it to contractors so that people can get the benefit of the substantial funding available?
Has an evaluation been done of the various processes through which the applications have to be examined and the way in which the work is carried out with a view to identifying the snags or difficulties before they become obvious and before they cause serious delays to those who wish to upgrade the BERs of their homes to avail of the benefits of heat retention?
I accept there are sound arguments about the benefits of the scheme. One way to speed up the process is to employ additional contractors. We are up to 36 contractors now. I have also been informed the SEAI has allocated additional staff to the warmer homes scheme, knowing the funding will increase year on year. There has been a major increase this year and there will be a further increase next year. The authority can employ those staff knowing there is a real balance.
The SEAI is understandably worried that it might appear before an Oireachtas committee and there might have been some money inappropriately spent in some way. Given this is a 100% grant, often to private households, the staff in the authority want to ensure the standards are right. That should not and does not preclude us from reducing the ten-month waiting time to get through the process. We have to give the SEAI licence to a certain extent to push further and, while not taking risks, at the same time not to be so risk averse that we end up losing the householder. That is a difficult balancing act. I have been saying to the organisation all the time to go faster, be flexible and be quick, as much as anything else, because that is what we need.
