Many people are still unaware that the State will pay for their home to be retrofitted for free if they are in receipt of certain social welfare payments. 

With the world in the grip of yet another fossil fuel crisis, there has been a surge in demand for work carried out by Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland contractors. 

While generous grants are available to subsidise the cost of retrofitting a person’s home, the work rarely comes cheap. 

On The Claire Byrne Show, Irish Independent Personal Finance Editor Charlie Weston urged people to do their research to maximise the supports available. 

“There is a Warmer Homes Scheme, which will fund you if you're low income,” he explained. 

“But people don't know about it, that's the problem.” 

People are eligible for the Warmer Homes Scheme if they are in receipt of the Fuel Allowance, Working Family Payment, Domiciliary Care Allowance, One Parent Family Payment or Carer's Allowance. 

Some people in receipt of the Jobseeker’s Allowance or Disability Allowance are also entitled to apply. 

Solar panels on a roof. Picture by: Pexels.com.

Mr Weston noted there has been a “big increase” in green loans in recent months, which allow people to borrow money to finance retrofitting projects. 

“The banks are reporting a 26% increase this year compared with last year in the number of these green loans taken out,” he said. 

“They're big, chunky loans that tend to be twice the size of a standard loan; you're talking, according to the Banking and Payments Federation, up to €23,000. 

“A number of credit unions have come together, 34 of them around the country, and they formed a group called ‘Greenify’.

“They're offering a standardised green loan with a rate of 5.5% for consumers, which is pretty good.”

A heat pump installed in the garden of a home in Ireland. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Ireland already has the most expensive energy bills in the European Union and the Government has warned that the Iran War will likely push them up further this winter. 

It all means many homeowners are keen to retrofit their home before the cold weather returns. 

“What I'm hearing is a lot of people who maybe were putting this on their long finger,” Mr Weston said. 

“They were talking about, they were thinking about solar panels, for example, and this has just prompted them into action.

“They've now decided, ‘Okay, like it could be a rough winter, we're likely to get increases, there's a general cost of leaving the issue here.’

“So, if you're lucky enough to be able to afford to borrow, if you can manage it on top of mortgage payments, people are saying, ‘Well, maybe now is the time to do it.’

“So, it is kind of I think it's forcing the issue for a lot of people at the moment.”

A man installing a rooftop solar panel array. Image: Radharc Images / Alamy

Despite this, Mr Weston noted that people who avail or SEAI grants are generally “concentrated in affluent areas”, with few working class people retrofitting their homes. 

“You get this east, west, urban, urban, rural divide where the clean tech stuff is bought in the well off areas,” he explained. 

“I personally have a real problem with people getting grants to buy big 4x4 EVs, which are essentially just vanity purchases. 

“But that's the way it is.”

Main image: A home undergoing a retrofit. Picture by: Alamy.com.