Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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115. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason that the SEAI has removed marine vessels' energy costs from the qualifying criteria for the support scheme for energy audits for 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1650/23]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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116. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason that the SEAI has removed transport energy costs from the qualifying criteria for the support scheme for energy audits for 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1651/23]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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117. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if the €400,000 of unspent support scheme for energy audits funding in 2022 will carry forward to 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1652/23]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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118. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if the reduction of the voucher limit under support scheme for energy audits in 2023, will potentially result in a lower quality audit and lower quality data being collected by the SEAI given that many SMEs and farmers have multiple electricity connections at multiple sites which will now be excluded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1653/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 115 to 118, inclusive, together.

My Department funds the Support Scheme for Energy Audits (SSEA) which is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). As a result of rising energy costs, many more businesses are now eligible for the scheme as many more are spending in excess of €10,000 per annum on heating and electricity costs. The budget for the scheme in 2022 was €600,000 but, due to significant demand, additional funding was made available and €1.75m was paid in 2022. While the budget for 2023 has increased to €2m, it should be noted that almost 700 vouchers issued in 2022 have yet to be redeemed for payment and it is expected that a significant portion of these vouchers will be submitted for payment in 2023.

A recent review of the operation of the scheme resulted in a number of changes being made to ensure that the scheme operates within its overall budget for 2023, while also ensuring maximum value from the audits for the businesses involved. The SEAI engaged with Registered Energy Auditors on these changes.

One such change was capping the maximum number of vouchers to one per applicant/business in order to maximise the availability of the scheme to assist as many businesses as possible. The energy audit carried out should, where possible, include all electricity consumed by a business or at a site and businesses with multiple electricity connections or sites are not excluded from applying for a voucher. The scheme allows for a company to request that an auditor audits more than one building within the value of the voucher, or for a small additional fee to be agreed between the company and their Auditor.

The SEAI’s energy audit data indicates that measures to reduce transport costs are typically limited to either improving driver behaviour or switching to electric vehicles. As a result, transport costs have been excluded from the scheme qualifying criteria although, for businesses that are eligible for the scheme, recommendations to reduce transport energy use could still be included in their energy audit. Businesses that have significant transport energy costs can avail of information on EVs and eco driver training on SEAI’s website.

Based on SEAI analysis marine vessel energy audit data is limited and, therefore, does not provide value to the business and the removal of marine vessels from the scheme is a recognition of this.