Full retrofit only available from two firms, sustainable energy body says

Only two companies are fully registered so far to provide the all-in service for homeowners who wish to undertake a complete home energy upgrade on their houses, according to the State’s agency on sustainable energy.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has responsibility for implementing the new €8 billion package announced by the Government in February to improve insulation standards in Irish homes. Under the scheme, homeowners will be entitled to receive grants worth up to half the retrofit costs. In some cases, retrofit costs will run to over €50,000.

The chief executive of the SEAI, William Walsh, will tell the Oireachtas environment committee on Tuesday that, so far, two companies are fully registered to provide one-stop shop services. This will provide clients with all the services needed to upgrade their homes, including home energy assessments, grand application project management, contract works, the follow-up Building Energy Rating (BER) assessment, as well as all the finance options.

One-stop shops

The scheme commenced in March and will run until the end of the decade. While it is early in its operation, it illustrates the scale of the challenge to retrofit 500,000 Irish homes to a high B2 standard by 2030, a key target in the programme for government.

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However, Mr Walsh, in an opening statement, will also tell the committee that in addition to those two companies a further 17 companies are engaged in the process of becoming one-stop shops. There will also be ample opportunity for smaller contractors who may not have the wherewithal to become one-stop shops, to partner with bigger one-stop shop companies to provide specific services.

Finance package

“Our retrofitting targets represent a decade-long project, one which will build rapidly towards the goals,” Mr Walsh will say.

However he has also flagged a number of clear challenges including the impact of inflation on materials, the capacity of the supply chain, the degree of willingness of homeowners to undertake expensive retrofits, and designing a low-cost finance package.

Mr Walsh will also tell the committee that the Russian invasion of Ukraine will have an effect. In light of the invasion, the SEAI “is collaborating with colleagues in our parent department and other State agencies to mitigate impacts which will affect all of society”.