Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The National Energy Efficiency Action Plan and the Programme for Government include a commitment to roll out a Better Energy Financing energy retrofit scheme (formerly known as Pay-As-You-Save) for domestic buildings. The key benefit to homeowners of the Better Energy Financing (BEF) mechanism is that it will allow them to secure upfront financing for energy efficiency upgrades to their homes. In designing the new mechanism, my Department worked with SEAI under the direction of a Project Board representing State and industry stakeholders. As well as accessing expert technical, legal and financial advice, detailed analysis of similar schemes in other jurisdictions was undertaken and a public consultation was also carried out. The SEAI will now be tasked with drawing up a detailed implementation plan for the design, development and execution of the Better Energy Financing scheme, which I anticipate will lead to a number of elements of the scheme being piloted later this year. There are a number of reasons for the revision of the Pay-As-You-Save model principally that homeowners are reluctant to take on new loan products when deleveraging is the common practice. This is in keeping with the international experience as is the additional difficulty in attracting applicants beyond the cohort of early adopters. Experience has also shown that the Pay-As-You-Save Model would not deliver savings adequate to meet the cost of Retrofit as originally anticipated. For these reasons government has maintained the grants-based incentive scheme that has seen over 261,000 homes retrofitted to date. I have already advised government that, in parallel with the new Better Energy Finance initiative, I intend to maintain the grants-based incentives for 2015.

My Department has responded to the decline in applications for domestic Retrofit by re-channelling funding to meet the surge in applications under the Better Energy Areas and Communities Scheme which provide grant funding for community based projects. The government has committed 57 million in Exchequer Capital Funding for the Better Energy Programme this year.

In keeping with government policy to target, where possible, exchequer moneys to upgrade homes most in need my colleague the Minister for Housing is overseeing the investment of a further €50m in upgrading the energy efficiency of Local Authority homes.The non-domestic sector is equally important in stimulating economic activity and realising energy savings. Last year I published the National Energy Services Framework which, when combined with the €70m National Energy Efficiency Fund, is equivalent to a Pay-As-You-Save methodology for the commercial and public sectors.

An analysis carried out by the SEAI for my Department of the potential of micro-generation technologies is informing consideration of a market support specifically for micro-generation.