Owners of the most inefficient homes excluded from State retrofitting scheme

A new report by Friends of the Earth says a large cross-section of society faces significant barriers to retrofitting.

The Government has been warned its housing retrofitting scheme faces failure as owners of the most inefficient homes are unable to afford the spiralling building costs.

In a damning new report on the scheme, Friends of the Earth said a large cross-section of society, including low-income households, tenants, rural dwellers, and the Traveller community, faces significant barriers to retrofitting.

Many of the country’s hundreds of thousands of private renters are excluded from the upgrades, it said, thanks to a low standard of rental house, a lack of tailored financial options for landlords to retrofit, and no clarity on tenant protection from “renovictions”.

It also says the Government has continually failed to produce an updated Energy Poverty Strategy, leaving questions around whether homes most at risk of energy poverty are being sufficiently identified and targeted in Government retrofit schemes.

High energy bills

Clare O’Connor, energy policy officer at Friends of the Earth and author of the report, said: “Ireland’s housing stock remains some of Europe’s most inefficient, leaving many of us with high energy bills and vulnerable to shocks like the current energy crisis.

Despite some positive announcements from the Government in their new retrofit scheme, this report shows that there are still major barriers to achieving their target of retrofitting half a million homes by 2030.

Friends of the Earth also points to the shortage of skilled labour and materials available to undertake retrofitting works.

Michael Hanratty, CEO of BERWOW, an online tool to guide homeowners through retrofitting, agrees there is a need to expand the workforce providing the service.

He has found that, for those who own their own homes “there’s a queue of people knocking on the door of these newly-established one-stop shops who basically project manage from start to finish a person’s retrofit programme”.

Friends of the Earth says there is a shortage of skilled labour and materials available to undertake retrofitting works.

Mr Hanratty said there are Government programmes for fuel-poor households on low income but capacity must increase.

"Firstly, there’s local authority stock that’s being actively upgraded to B2 standard,” he said. “And SEAI has a national programme to substantially fund almost all costs for fuel-poor households.

“But it’s a question of how quickly this can be ramped up. It’s a question of resources and getting enough feet on the ground to get this work done. The programmes are there.” 

The Friends of the Earth report, informed by interviews with experts in energy poverty and energy efficiency, says at least one in five people in Ireland are at risk of energy poverty.

It makes a number of recommendations on how to make retrofitting more accessible, including:

• Expand the eligibility criteria for the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) Warmer Homes scheme for 100% grants, to include tenants who receive Housing Assistance Payment (HAP);
• Local community energy advisers should be introduced by the SEAI across all counties or local authorities to increase awareness among hard-to-reach energy users;
• The Department of Environment should immediately produce a new energy poverty strategy;
• Increase social housing retrofit targets from the current 36,500, or just 7% of total retrofits to be completed by 2030;
• The introduction of tailored measures for retrofitting the private rental sector.