Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 March 2023
166. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of homes upgraded to BER B2 under SEAI retrofitting schemes on an annual basis from 2015 to 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10884/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra167. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of heat pumps installed on an annual basis from 2015 to 2022 in existing homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10885/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 166 and 167 together.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has a number of schemes in place to support homeowners to upgrade their properties. Since 2000, these schemes have supported over 490,000 homeowners to upgrade their homes to some extent, representing nearly one home in four across the country. The vast majority of these upgrades were “shallow” upgrades, typically comprising one or two measures.
In February 2022, Government launched a package of supports to make it easier and more affordable for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades, for warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes, with lower energy bills. The key measures introduced include:
- a new National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme (NHEUS) providing increased grant levels of up to 50% of the cost of a typical deep retrofit to a B2 BER standard (up from 30%-35% grants in 2021)
- establishment of a network of One Stop Shops offering a start-to-finish project management service for the NHEUS, including access to financing, for home energy upgrades.
- aligning many of the grant supports available under the Better Energy Homes Scheme and the Community Energy Grant Scheme to the NHEUS.
- amending the construction rule for grant support for installation of heat pumps to allow for homes built and occupied before 2021.
- a significant increase in grant support for the instalment of an air to water heat pump from €3,500 to up to €6,500 as well as provision of a bonus payment of €2,000 to homeowners undertaking a deep retrofit with a heat pump under the NHEUS or the Community Energy Grant Scheme.
Demand across the SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes was exceptionally high in 2022 and as the figures below highlight, there was an increase when compared to 2021 levels:
- 27,200 home energy upgrades were supported in 2022, compared to 15,246 in 2021, representing a 79% increase year-on year.
- Of these, 4,438 free energy upgrades were delivered under SEAI energy poverty schemes, compared to 2,398 in 2021, representing an 85% increase year-on-year.
- Over 50,000 applications were received in 2022 which is up 150% on 2021 levels and points to the pipeline of activity for 2023.
Based on data available to my Department, the table below shows the number of SEAI supported retrofits to a BER of B2 or better and the number of heat pump installations supported by SEAI between 2017-2022.
|
- |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
|
SEAI supported retrofits to BER B2 or better |
3 |
214 |
2,360 |
3,129 |
4,345 |
8,481 |
|
SEAI supported heat pump installations |
1,200 |
1,640 |
1,972 |
2,269 |
It is important to note that local authority retrofits and heat pump installations are in addition to the figures provided here. Furthermore, figures for B2 retrofits in 2017 and 2018 supplied in the table above relate only to the Deep Retrofit Programme. Data in relation to any B2 retrofits under other SEAI supported schemes for those years is not available.
My Department is working with SEAI to build on the strong performance of 2022. A record €356 million in funding has been allocated to SEAI for residential and community retrofit for 2023 to support the delivery of 37,000 retrofits this year.
