ENERGY SAVING BLOG

From 8th June 2010, Building Energy Rating (BER) will be an integral part of all grant applications under the Home Energy Saving (HES) scheme, whereby homeowners must undertake a BER on their home after grant aided works have been completed.

This will give homeowners a thorough and objective assessment of the energy performance of their home following upgrade works, including a rating on an A-G scale.  This BER assessment attracts grant aid of €100. Before the introduction of the mandatory BER there was a grant of €200 available for homeowners who wished to undertake a Before and After BER which necessitated two site visits by the assessor.  Given that it is now only required to undertake a BER after the upgrade works, the selected assessor should only need to visit the home once and so the costs should be significantly reduced.

The HES scheme provides grant aid to homeowners towards upgrades of roof insulation, wall insulation and heating systems.  In order to inform homeowners of the effect of upgrade works, SEAI has introduced a requirement for homeowners to undertake a BER after the upgrade works have been completed.  The BER assessment is to be completed by an Assessor further to a site visit after HES works have been completed, and carried out strictly in accordance with the BER Assessor’s Code of Practice. The BER will reflect the actual energy rating of the house following installation of HES upgrade works, and must be published on the NAS database.

The condition of the roof, walls, heating system and heating controls prior to the grant works may be used to estimate the energy performance of the home before HES upgrade works. Contractors undertaking the necessary works will make the necessary information available to Assessors on the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form. The estimate of dwellings energy usage and CO2 emissions prior to upgrade works may be based on one of the following:

a)    A published BER, prior to upgrade works, if one exists
b)    An estimate derived from the DEAP XML for the home after upgrade works into which the pre upgrade condition is inserted, effectively discounting the impact of the works (note this is not a formal BER)

The BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form has three functions:
a)    Captures the pre-works condition of the home as indicated by the insulation and heating system contractors;
b)    Captures the relevant data from the relevant data from the after works BER  and the matching pre works energy performance estimate data;
c)    Allows the homeowner to declare that works are completed, confirm the published BER and claim grant payment.

Thus from 8th June 2010 the following is the outline sequence for grant applicants:
-    Homeowner submits a grant application to SEAI for selected measures. The homeowner does not need to specify at this time which Assessor will complete the BER
-    SEAI approves grant application and sends an offer complete with the Declaration of Works (DOW) and BER Confirmation and Request for Payment forms to the homeowner
-    Registered contractor completes the upgrade works fills in the relevant sections of the above form(s)
-    BER Assessor completes and publishes a BER for the home after upgrade works are complete
-    BER Assessor uses information available to generate an estimate of the energy performance of the home prior to upgrade
-    BER Assessor completes the relevant sections of  the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form returns it to the homeowner with the BER cert and advisory report
-    Homeowner submits request for payment to SEAI
-    SEAI issues grant payment to homeowner
For more information or a quote on a BER Certificate for HES Application please contact our office today on 01 66 88 304.

Contractors should email mail (at) enerstar.ie for quotes on multiple properties.