Momentum for home energy upgrades and Solar PV in County Offaly in 2023 is heartening and important, showing that homeowners are embracing the opportunities offered by SEAI schemes.

Nationally, Government supported 47,900 home energy upgrades through SEAI in 2023, as published by SEAI today.

114 energy-poor homes received fully funded energy upgrades in 2023 through the Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme. This is a fully managed solution for qualifying homeowners in receipt of certain Department of Social Protection payments. This is a separate scheme to the Local Authority home retrofit programme.

Another 306 homes availed of the Solar PV grant, 12 of the One Stop Shop service for a full retrofit and the number of individual grants in the county for energy upgrades was a further 311. All of those figures show considerable increases from 2022: See table.

Home Energy Upgrades by County and Scheme, 2022 and 2023

I am especially delighted to see the increase in the fully funded home energy upgrades in the county, up from 75 in 2022 to 114 in 2023.

I would like to get the message out about this Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme: That it is available to many who are not yet availing of it. There is a focus on deeper home retrofits, with 60% of these homes receiving a deeper upgrade. The average cost per home on this was €25,000. While there is a wait time from applicating, today’s report shows this is reducing.

It’s also important today to focus on the role Offaly is playing in the training and upskilling of those who are working in the home energy sector. Today’s report highlights the shortage of labour, particularly in specialist areas such as plumbing and heat pump installation. We should be very proud of the contribution of the  Mount Lucas based, National Construction Training Centre to the upskilling and training of people, so badly needed in this sector.

I often hear the argument that home retrofits are too expensive for the average householder. It is reassuring to see the figures for 2023. The most effective energy saving measure is typically insulation and this is very affordable with the grant. See Table.

For a full retrofit of a semi-detached house the median cost in 2023, after the grant and with an uplift from a very low BER of E1 to A2, was €37,000. I recognise this as a sizeable investment and welcome that unsecured, low interest and State backed loans will be available very soon to bridge this gap. Savings in home energy costs will go a considerable way to repay this loan.