The Building Energy Rating (BER) scheme was established under the European Communities (Energy Performance of Buildings) Regulations 2006. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) is designated as the issuing authority with responsibility for registering BER assessors, logging BER assessments and managing the BER scheme.
Since 2007, all new buildings require a BER before occupation. In 2009, this requirement was extended to require a seller or landlord to provide a BER for existing buildings when they are offered for sale or rent. At the end of October 2015, 586,946 BER certificates for individual dwellings and 34,960 BER certificates for non-residential buildings have been registered with SEAI. This means that around one third of the homes in Ireland now possess a BER certificate.
SEAI make statistical data on the Building Energy Rating (BER) scheme available online for researchers and other interested parties through the National BER Research Tool. The Central Statistics Office publish quarterly reports on the analysis of BER data. Independent studies have shown that the BER system is having a significant effect on the housing market, with higher rated properties attracting a higher sale price than similar properties with a lower rating.
I have secured a total of just over €68m in capital funding for energy programmes in 2016, a substantial component of which will be devoted to energy efficiency action. This represents an increase of €13m or almost 24% on the 2015 capital allocation for the energy programmes. The increased level of funding for energy efficiency in 2016 will provide for an extension of the existing schemes operated under the umbrella of Better Energy scheme and the creation of a new pilot programme to demonstrate the potential of energy efficiency to achieve better health outcomes. A detailed breakdown of expected expenditure on each programme will be published in the revised estimates in December.
Looking beyond 2016, it is clear that very significant levels of investment, both public and private, will be needed to realise the potential of energy efficiency in the built environment for achieving our overarching energy and climate goals cost effectively. This is both a challenge and an opportunity and will be a central element to the White Paper on Energy Policy, which I intend to publish before the end of the year.
