The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) is introducing two new features to the Home Energy Saving (HES) scheme, designed to further empower consumers, first by guiding them on suitable upgrade works and secondly informing them of the impact of works undertaken. The Home Energy Saving scheme, administered by SEAI provides grants to homeowners for insulation and heating system upgrades and continues to prove very popular with over 58,000 homeowner applications approved since the scheme was launched in March 2009.
Online Home Energy Self Survey
The smart online Home Energy Self Survey will only take minutes to complete, taking homeowners through a number of simple steps to identify the current condition of their home and guiding them towards the most suitable upgrade works. This new survey will be offered to all applicants at the start of the online application process and will also be available in hard copy on request from the SEAI call centre. The survey complements the existing fast track online application system and links directly to SEAI’s other resources including the Buyers’ Guides.
Integral BER Requirement
At the same time a Building Energy Rating (BER) is to become an integral part of all grant applications under the HES scheme, whereby homeowners must undertake a BER to measure the impact of works undertaken. This will give homeowners a thorough and objective assessment of the energy performance of their home following upgrade works, including a BER certificate with a A-G performance rating. The first such BER assessment will attract grant aid of Eur100.
At the time of completing the BER, the assessor will also provide an estimate of the energy performance of the home before upgrade works, based upon the pre-works condition of the house. This will inform the homeowner of the effectiveness of the upgrade works in terms of energy and CO2 emissions improvements.