Grants for a home energy upgrade

The National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme provides grants to upgrade the energy efficiency of your property. When the work is completed your property should have an energy efficiency rating of B2 or above. The scheme is available to homeowners, private landlords and approved housing bodies.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administers the grants and a private company manages the work for you. These companies are called One Stop Shops, and the scheme is also known as the One Stop Shop Service.

The SEAI also provides individual energy upgrade grants, if you only want to do certain home energy upgrades.

You may be able to get a Home Energy Upgrade Loan to help with the additional costs of the upgrades that aren’t covered by the grant. These loans are subsidised by the Government so have lower interest rates than normal personal loans. You only qualify for the loan if you are getting a home energy upgrade grant from the SEAI.

There is also a free home energy upgrade scheme for people on low incomes.

You need to use a private company registered with the SEAI to access this grant (also known as One Stop Shops). They will manage the whole project for you, bringing your home up to a BER rating of B2 or above.

The company will:

• Complete an initial energy assessment of your home and advise you on the upgrades you need to bring it up to a B2 BER rating or higher
• Apply and accept the SEAI grants for your property
• Assign a contractor to do the work on your property
• Manage the works at your home ensuring that everything is up to standard
• Complete the final BER assessment when the work is done

These companies deduct the grants from the cost of the works in advance, so you only pay what is outstanding. Some of these operators also provide finance options, so you have different ways to pay for the outstanding cost of the works.

The scheme is available to homeowners, private landlords and approved housing bodies. To qualify for a grant you must:

• Be the owner of a property built and occupied before 2011 for insulation, heating control systems and renewable systems grants
• Have a home with a BER of B3 or lower before the work
• Reach a BER of at least B2 after the work and have a BER improvement of 100kWh/m2 per year
• Not have already used grants for the same energy upgrades
• Use an SEAI registered company (One Stop Shop) to manage the process, work and applications

Note: If your property was built before 1940, you may need to ask a conservation architect for advice before applying. This is because modern insulation methods covered by the grant may not be appropriate for your older building. The SEAI has useful information about insulating older homes.

Under this scheme, you can get grants for:

• Attic insulation
• Rafter insulation
• Wall insulation - including cavity wall, internal dry lining and external insulation
• Floor insulation
• Heating controls
• Solar thermal solutions (solar hot water)
• Solar PV panels
• Heat pump systems and central heating system for heat pump
• New windows
• New external doors
• Mechanical ventilation
• Air tightness
• Home energy assessment
• Project management

The table below shows the grant amount available for each energy upgrade. The grant amounts for approved housing bodies (AHBs) are different to those for homeowners and landlords. The amount you get for each upgrade can also depend on the type of property you have. For example, the grant you get to insulate a detached house is more than the grant you get to insulate an apartment.

The One-Stop-Shop will assess your home and recommend the work needed to get your home up to a BER B2 rating.

There is also bonus of €2,000 if you install a heat pump and reach a B2 BER rating.

You should contact an SEAI registered One-Stop-Shop to apply for this grant.