Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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72. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to improve the average wait time for the better energy warmer homes scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9924/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Government supports households most at risk of energy poverty to improve the energy performance of their homes through schemes administered by the SEAI. In 2022 this included the Warmer Homes scheme and the Warmth and Well-being pilot scheme.

Delivering these free energy upgrades to low-income households and reducing waiting times is a key priority for Government. Demand for these upgrades is very high with over 9,900 applications received in 2022 and over 900 additional applications received in January 2023 alone.

Data provided by SEAI indicates that last year:

- A record €98 million was spent on these schemes;

- This delivered 4,438 free energy upgrades - an increase of 85% on 2021;

- The average value of the upgrades provided in the second half of 2022 was almost €22,000. This compares to an average spend of €3,450 in 2017 and gives a clear indication of the scale of work now being carried out in these homes;

- Over the course of 2022, SEAI achieved an average of more than 400 upgrades per month, more than double the monthly average of 177 in 2021;

- Average wait times under the scheme reduced slightly from 27 months in 2021 to 26 months in 2022.

A range of steps have been taken to enhance the capacity of the scheme and deliver increased numbers of upgrades. This includes additional staff in SEAI working on the scheme as well as measures to deal with ongoing supply chain and inflationary pressures. Additional funding of €248 million for the scheme has also been secured for the period to 2027 from the European Regional Development Fund.

Looking to this year, an unprecedented budget of €148.5 million has been allocated to the scheme which will deliver 6,000 additional home upgrades.

My Department is working with the SEAI to identify approaches that can further increase the number of energy upgrades delivered to low income households. This will include a new contractor panel for the scheme to be established later this year. It is intended that the panel will be in place for 4 years, with an estimated contract budget of €700 million for that period.