Number of home energy upgrades jumps by 2% in first three months

The number of home energy upgrades has increased by 2% in the first three months of the year, new figures show.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) published details on the 11,910 home energy upgrades supported through Government-funded grant schemes in the first three months of 2025.

This represents an increase of 2% on the number of upgrades for the same period last year.

There are a number of grants available to upgrade the energy efficient of homes.

The grants are administered through SEAI and are part of Government plans to retro fit property across the country.

The national retrofit plan sets out how the Government will deliver on the Climate Action Plan targets of retrofitting the equivalent of 500,000 homes and installing 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes to replace older, less efficient heating systems by the end of 2030.

Figures show that Government expenditure across all schemes reached 76 million euro, up 4% year on year.

Of the homes upgraded, 1,350 were energy-poor homes which benefited from fully funded energy upgrades in the first three months.

For the first quarter of 2025, it was found that expenditure across all schemes to end of Q1 was 76 million euro, up 4% on the same period in 2024.

A total of 11,910 property upgrades were completed to end of Q1, up 2% over the same period in 2024.

Over 5,100 homes were upgraded to a BER B2 or higher in the first three months, down 1% over the same period in 2024.

There was a total of 1,350 upgrades for energy poverty qualifying households to end Q1, up 14% on the same period in 2024.

Some 765 heat pump installations were supported, the figures show.

The SEAI said that a total of 14,770 applications processed across all schemes to end Q1, down 5% over the same period in 2024.

The impacts achieved for residential upgrades completed during January, February and March include 29.47 GWh energy savings and 15.0 kt CO2 savings

The SEAI said that among the major scheme activities and developments included further phases of the national marketing and communications campaign to increase awareness of the benefits of home energy upgrades and to encourage uptake and applications.

The Better Energy Homes programme was also launched to One Stop Shops.

SEAI said there are now 14 One Stop Shops registered giving homeowners a second pathway, enabling them to support homeowners to upgrade on a step-by-step basis, rather than all at once.

“Applicants for heat pumps who have a compliant BER on the system can now by-pass the technical assessment process.

“This removes a further barrier to the uptake of heat pumps,” an SEAI spokeswoman said.

Dublin saw the largest number of property upgrades in the first three months of the year, with 2,582 in the county.

The second highest was in Cork with 1,395 properties upgraded, while the lowest was in Co Longford with 78 properties upgraded in the first three months.