Sir, – According to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, over one million homes in the country are poorly insulated and have inefficient heating systems. Upgrading to a more efficient system can save up to €600 per year on heating bills.
I firmly support efforts to reduce our carbon impact and am keen to do my own bit. With this in mind I spoke to Electric Ireland to find out about a retrofit solution for my own inefficient house. Before any work could start, I would need to pay €2,225 (encompassing a home energy assessment, professional fees and a project management fee), of which €350 is returnable via “overall grant support”.
A rough estimate for the cost of the work is €45,000 to €50,000, covering external insulation and a heat pump. A grant of €15,000 to €20,000 would be available after the works were completed.
I would need to live in the house for another 87 years before I could justify the initial outlay from a purely financial perspective (although the grant would give me back 33 years). It looks like we’ll be investing in a few Aran jumpers before we go about improving the house’s efficiency.
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Unless the Government plans to drastically improve the grant system, this part of the climate change strategy will fall well short of its target. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN KELLY,
Dublin 14.