Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
57. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he is aware of the €170.2 million underspend in residential and community retrofits in 2022; the factors that caused this underspend; the steps that he took to address them; if he anticipates an underspend in 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56310/23]
View answerThe total allocation for SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes in 2022 was €321.495 million. This includes funding from the Vote, the Energy Efficiency National Fund and a deferred surrender.
Of this amount, total expenditure by SEAI on residential/community energy upgrade schemes was over €200 million with a capital spend of €192.6 million. This capital spend represented a 90% increase on the spend in 2021. The balance was comprised of:
• €128.63 million which was transferred from the residential and community retrofit programme subhead to the Electricity Credit subhead as part of a supplementary estimate in March 2022 to part fund the energy credits.
• A further €40 million was transferred following a second supplementary to fund Emergency Generation Capacity.
• This left a final underspend of €1.54 million.
The expected overall capital spend by SEAI on the Residential and Community Retrofit Schemes in 2023 is €324.5 million versus an allocation of €356.4 million. This spend represents an increase of approximately 68% when compared to 2022. Key drivers of the underspend were:
• Adverse weather episodes had a considerable impact on the outturn of a number of schemes during the year;
• A number of One-Stop-Shops (OSSs) were still building capacity to deliver the number of upgrades expected. An increase in the number of OSSs to now stand at 17 is expected to improve the capacity to deliver in 2024. In addition, the launch of the new loan scheme is expected to stimulate additional demand for deep retrofits this year.
• A number of projects under the Community Energy Grants Scheme were large and complex which required longer to deliver than expected. Demand for the Scheme remains strong however and a number of new contracts have been approved in 2023 for works to be completed in 2024.
