Minister urged to increase grants for home energy upgrades

The Minister for Energy has been urged to increase the State contribution for home energy upgrades in order to bridge a €30,000 gap between existing grants and the full cost of retrofitting.

Speaking at a plenary meeting of Roscommon County Council, Independent councillor Laurence Fallon described it as an issue that was “causing untold trouble”.

“There is a great desire to upgrade homes but the cost of upgrading them is huge.

“The average cost of upgrading a home - taking it from an ordinary house built in the 1960s and 70s up to today’s standard, an A1 or a B3 - is about €60,000 with a €35,000 grant. You have to find the €60,000 and you are still short €30,000.

“I think if the Government was serious about upgrading homes, there is a need for a much greater rate of grant. It would be money well spent because people would get their money back very quickly,” Cllr Fallon explained.

He proposed that elected members write to the Minister for Energy Darragh O’Brien, and the SEAI, which administers the grant, to increase the rate of contribution to allow the general public to carry out the work.

“They want to do it but they can’t afford it,” he said.

Separately, he raised concerns about air to water heat pumps, pointing out that many older homes were not suitable for such a system “but according to SEAI, it’s the only game in town”.

“There is a need for the SEAI to look at not an outright ban on diesel fuels or kerosene because there are some very old homes with stone walls where air to water won’t work. That needs to be looked at carefully,” he said.

On the issue of the huge upsurge in the number of electric cars on the road, he said the biggest challenge was the lack of a comprehensive charging network.

Cllr Fallon raised the issues during a discussion that followed a presentation on the local authority’s Climate Action Plan by climate action coordinator Aoife Moore.

*Published under the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.