Almost 7,000 homes waiting up to two years for home energy retrofitting

The Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme — aimed at low-income households who are most at risk of energy poverty — has seen delays “largely driven by Covid-related issues”, Environment Minister Eamon Ryan has said. Photo: Julien Behal

There are just under 7,000 homes waiting for improvements under the Government’s Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme, with the average waiting time for households on the scheme stretching well over two years.

The initiative — aimed at low-income households who are most at risk of energy poverty — has seen delays “largely driven by Covid-related issues”, Environment Minister Eamon Ryan has said. Mr Ryan said a number of actions were being taken to reduce this backlog, including almost tripling the budget for the project this year.

Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin had requested these figures. He told the Irish Examiner there is an "exceptionally long" period in the time it takes to go from initial application to works being concluded.

“There were disruptions due to Covid, of course,” he said. “But local authorities were continuing to do essential works at this time. For people in energy poverty, it’s unacceptably long progress from application to processing to approval to works being carried out. For people struggling now, they need relief, and they need it in their pockets.” 

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The scheme covers a number of upgrades to a home, including attic insulation, wall insulation, energy-efficient lighting, draught-proofing, new central heating systems, and replacement windows.

To be eligible, a person must be in receipt of social welfare payments such as fuel allowance, carer’s allowance, or the working family payment.

In 2021, the average cost of the energy efficiency measures provided per household stood at €17,100, Mr Ryan said in response to a recent parliamentary question. He confirmed there were 6,900 homes awaiting works under the Better Energy Warmer Homes scheme.

“Activity under the scheme, and the associated expenditure, were significantly impacted in both 2020 and 2021 by the Covid pandemic,” the minister said.

SEAI [Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland] data indicate that for homes completed so far in 2022, the average cycle time from application to completion was approximately 27 months.

“While this delay was largely driven by Covid-related issues, the deeper measures being provided under the scheme since 2018, also involve more substantive works.” 

The warmer homes scheme was brought in by the Government in February, as part of its response to the surging cost of powering and heating our homes.

It said a budget allocation of €109 million (from €38 million) had been provided for the scheme this year, which would support an increase in the number of free home upgrades from an average of 177 a month in 2021, to 400 per month this year.

Mr Ryan said this would be done through active contract engagement and management from the SEAI to increase contractor output. The Government said it would also target the worst performing properties, such as those with a pre-works BER of E, F or G.

“For the first time, applications will be accepted from qualifying homeowners who previously received supports under the scheme, but who could still benefit from even deeper measures,” it said.

Mr Ryan added that activity on the scheme ramped up towards the end of 2021 as Covid restrictions eased and the SEAI target for clearing the homes currently on the waiting list is approximately 18 months.

Mr Ó Broin, however, said to meet the retrofitting targets set out by Government, a mechanism must be found to ensure delivery is accelerated to “a far greater degree”.

He added there are reports of a shortage of construction professionals in Ireland to carry out this work, and said the Government needs to do work there in both training and recruitment.