Home Energy Insulation Grants Cut

B

BlueButton

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The Home Energy Saving (HES) - SEAI grants for upgrading attic and wall insulation seem to have been 'quietly' reduced following yesterdays announcements.

Per the SEAI website, the wall insullation - cavity grant has been reduced from €400 to €320 and the grant towards the BER has been reduced from €100 to €80.

The Home Energy Saving (HES) is now closed for applications and it would appear it will re-open as the Better Energy Homes programme on 16th May.




The Home Energy Saving scheme has relaunched as part of the Better Energy Homes programme.
  • Additional budget has been provided so that more homes can avail of these incentives.
  • People wishing to install solar panels can now avail of a fixed grant through this scheme.
  • Note that grant levels have been recalibrated (except for external wall insulation) to reflect the lower prices in a competitive market.
  • The Greener Homes Scheme is no longer open for applications.
The Better Energy Homes scheme will open for homeowner applications on May 16th
 
The government is just about to sink the construction sector completely with these cuts. SEAI was supposedly given an extra €19 million to promote jobs. So what do they do, cut the enticement for homeowners to avail of grants!!!

BER grants go from €100 to €80
Heating Control Upgrades from €500 to €400
Heating Control Upgrades with new HE boiler from €700 to €560
Solar Panels go from upto €1,800 to flat rate of €800

They get rid of Heat Pump and Biomass altogether so they basically want us to rely on fossil fuels completely! Anyone working in this industry best make their way to the nearest dole queue.

How in anyone's right mind does this promote jobs? The only work that is about in the construction industry is retrofitting and they want to deter people from employing staff in this sector.

Get this: I have heard through the grapevine and it will be supposedly announced on Monday 16th that all grants will be funded by the installer. So if the measure costs say €5,000, and there is an €800 grant, the installer invoices for €5,000 but the homeowner only pays €4,200. The installer must claim the grant back from the SEAI. He must also pay the VAT on the total invoice amount, even though the total amount is not received. Payment from SEAI, as anyone knows will take approx 10 weeks at best and if there are any disputes, God knows how long it will take. So now the installer must be the bank as well and fund the grant until SEAI decide to give it back to the installer.

If this happens, I can say for certain, I will be closing the company and letting go all staff as I will not be funding any Irish government scheme and let them call it a Jobs Initiative Scheme.

Let's hope this is only hearsay, but I am told it is fairly reliable!
 
If this happens, I can say for certain, I will be closing the company and letting go all staff as I will not be funding any Irish government scheme and let them call it a Jobs Initiative Scheme.

+1

Not to mention all schemes ending 2013.

God help us all........
 
The idea, as I understand it, is to ultimately have a scheme where the homeowner gets a proper retrofit, i.e. an overhaul of the energy inefficient elements, but that they pay nothing up front - rather a levy on bills or similar over time.
 
bmcintyre said:
The idea, as I understand it, is to ultimately have a scheme where the homeowner gets a proper retrofit, i.e. an overhaul of the energy inefficient elements, but that they pay nothing up front - rather a levy on bills or similar over time.
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That is only part of it. If people do not wish to use one of the Utilities for the upgrade, they should still be able to use any registered SEAI installer for the works.
I am all for using the Utilities as we are currently installers for ESB Halo, however, each and every registered installer should have an equal crack of the whip.

It does not excuse the fact that they are now claiming they have a further €30 million allocation and they have reduced the grants. It doesn't make sense. I would have thought they would have increased their marketing and increased the grants to make more people install more measures, and therefore create more jobs.

To me they are doctoring it up as a great promotion saying they are putting in additional funding when they have in fact lowered their costs by decreasing the grant allocation.
 
''Better''?

I'm afraid this is bad news for SEAI contractors and assessors. I would see this as a very black day for the construction industry. The Home Energy Savings scheme was just starting to finally show benefits for contractors who have seen a rise in inquirys since the harsh winter we've just had. With nearly all the grant levels being cut with the exception of EWI, the public will be less inclined to spend more of their own money. Contractors can ill afford to cut rates and costs any more as oil and materials (expecting another price increase shortly)do not show any sign of cost reduction and we cannot ask employees to take any more cuts if we want to keep a skilled and motivated workforce. We of course could use less skilled and cheaper labour but I for one would not be happy to go down this road as quality inevitibly suffers.</SPAN>
Also the entry of semi-state companies into these schemes is also weighted against the small to medium contractor. What contractor can afford to offer a client the option of spreading the cost of energy retro-fitting over a period of 24 months? Imagine a contractor telling a supplier or sub-contractor that they will have to wait 24 months for full payment for materials or services. I would advise anyone thinking of entering into an agreement with any of the semi-states, to read the terms and conditions very carefully. The draft from Bord Gais runs at 17 pages. It includes the client allowing permission for credit checks and charges for changing their mind after the cooling off period. Also the final cost may be more than you initially think. As I say read the T&C carefully.</SPAN>
BTW the CIF have been very quiet about all this
I'm sorry for my little rant, but this has really struck a nerve. The public need to be aware that this is more cronyism and protection of semi-states and pushing private industry further down the food chain. Do you, the public really want to spend your hard earned money by further funding the greed pit that has existed in the semi-states over the last 10 years with CEO's taking high six figure salaries and inefficent upper and middle management spending hundreds of thousands on junkets and perks for themselves.
 
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as a homeowner who had intended to contract with local suppliers and not an energy supplier, i agree with pmandcivil that the spreading of the charges means they actually charge more (see bord gais charge 9k for heating upgrade from oil to gas) whilst local contractor ranges from 6k up (big difference but hard to find 6k upfront).
we are now going to undertake the smaller works ourselves like dry lining attic insulation as we have been disincentivised to employ someone due to grants reduction.
i have contacted Stjohn O'Connor in the energy section of the Dept who said grants have decreased as there has been a significant decrease in the cost of installing these services except external insulation. The grant is supposed to represent 30% of the install costs! how can 560 for changing a whole boiler, installing a new insulated hot water tank and new radiators with trv's be 30% of the cost at that rate should only cost me 1800! can anyone do it for that? equally irate and fustrated homeowner who has lots of retrofitting to do!
 
I don't know how the SEI figures that costs have fallen If anything suppliers have increased costs and fuel and insurance prices have risen. The Sei is just another self sustaining quango. The best way to get a better deal is to forget the grant as the extra costs to comply with grant requirements far outweigh the paltry amount of the grant.
 
I met with Minister of State for Energy today to express some concerns that I had about the new scheme. Unfortunately he had very little time to talk (even though I had an appointment). He asked for all concerns to be sent to him via e-mail. His email address is fergus.odowd@finegael.ie. He has confirmed that it was ok for me to give this email to other contractors.
 
Lex Foutish said:
Thanks B. More good news!!!
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Don't mean to take this off topic (and I know I've asked before) but what are the rates contractors are currently asking (approx.) per sq. m. for external?

I'm figuring that irish contractors should be becoming more competent and efficient at this now (as they're at it for a couple of years now) - in tandem with ever decreasing labour rates. Thats the reason for asking once again - so if anyone has got a very recent quotation, I'd be interested to hear what the rate is.
 
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How come replacing windows does not come in as insulation as most of the heat is supposed to be lost through them.
 
We got the internal drylining done last year and the grant was 2.5K. It is down to 2K now.
 
The spin that was created by the announcment of the goverments jobs initative I feel will have a negative effect in regards to employment I has a contractor feel that by reducing the insulation grant jobs will be lost
 
Well I am glad to say so far the SEAI have not announced that the contractors will have to discount the grant amount from the invoice and we can continue as is.

Just still a pity that they grant amounts have all but one been reduced by 20%, however, the general public seem not to have realised this for I have seen a significant increase in enquiries due to the increased media attention!
 
Billo said:
Hi Shawady,
Do you mind me asking how much internal drylining cost, and is it satisfactory ?
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Billo, from memory it was 3.5 k and we got 2.5K back.
It has definitely made a big difference to our house as it was poorly insulated to begin with. I reckon our gas bill for a 12 month period beginning last September will be well under a grand, which isn't bad considering how cold the winter was and my wife was at home during the day.
If you want I can PM the details of the guy that did it. He did a tidy job.
 
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