Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
78. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications for a breakdown of the property upgrades completed through the warmer homes scheme over the course of 2023, by local authority area. [56824/23]
View answer85. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications for statistics in relation to the average project duration timeframe from application date to completion date for the fully funded energy upgrade scheme administered by SEAI, broken down by either county boundary as indicated in the applicants address or by local authority area; over the last two years to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57020/23]
View answer86. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of energy poverty upgrades under Programme B, Energy Expenditure, broken down by either county boundary or local authority area, over the past two years to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57021/23]
View answer87. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of new applications received for both the warmer homes scheme and warmth and wellbeing scheme; the number of completions of warmer homes scheme and warmth and wellbeing scheme projects, broken down by county boundary or local authority, over the last two years to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57022/23]
View answer88. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of people with chronic respiratory conditions receiving energy efficiency upgrades under the warmth and wellbeing scheme, over the past two years to date and broken down, by county boundary or by local authority area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57023/23]
View answer94. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of fully funded energy upgrades for low-income households; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57065/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 78, 85, 86, 87, 88 and 94 together.
The Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme delivers a range of energy efficiency measures free of charge to households vulnerable to energy poverty. The budget allocation for the scheme was €109 million in 2022 and €148.5 million in 2023. The budget allocation for 2024 will be finalised shortly as part of SEAI's business planning process. Funding of €264 million has also been secured for the scheme from the European Regional Development Fund and will supplement the annual allocations over the period from until 2027.
Increased awareness of the multiple benefits of retrofit and improvements to the Warmer Homes Scheme is driving increased levels of demand for the scheme with 24,000 applications received over the period from January 2022 to end December 2023.
Over that same period over 10,300 homes received upgrades under the scheme. The average cost of upgrades was €24,000 in 2023.
The average waiting time from application to completion in 2023 was 20 months. This is a decrease from an average of 26 months for homes completed in 2022.
SEAI commenced the publication of quarterly reports on scheme performance in 2023. The most recent report including detailed information in relation to the number of homes upgraded per county is available at: www.seai.ie/publications/SEAI-Retrofit-Quarterly-Report-Q3-2023.pdf . The 2023 Q4 report will be available shortly.
The Warmth and Wellbeing Scheme was developed as a pilot scheme aimed at improving the living conditions of vulnerable people living with chronic respiratory conditions. In 2022 the scheme delivered 174 Energy Upgrades, the scheme closed to new applicants on 28th February 2022, with the remaining homes delivered via mainstream Warmer Homes Scheme in 2023.
