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I am a BER Assessor

Important Information
From 8th June 2010, a Building Energy Rating (BER) is to be an integral part of all grant applications under the Home Energy Saving 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. The first such BER assessment will attract grant aid of €100. SEAI has also developed a smart online Home Energy Self Survey to help homeowners decide which upgrade works might be most suitable for their home. (It is also available in hard copy on request from our call centre at 1850-927000). A published BER certificate is required for each application and therefore it is advisable that homeowners apply for, and undertake, all planned grant aided works at the same time to minimize the costs associated with multiple BER assessments. Please note that grant payment can only be claimed once all measures associated with an application have been completed, including the BER assessment.

Important Information

From 8th June 2010, a Building Energy Rating (BER) is to be an integral part of all grant applications under the Home Energy Saving 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. The first such BER assessment will attract grant aid of €100. SEAI has also developed a smart online Home Energy Self Survey to help homeowners decide which upgrade works might be most suitable for their home. (It is also available in hard copy on request from our call centre at 1850-927000).

A published BER certificate is required for each application and therefore it is advisable that homeowners apply for, and undertake, all planned grant aided works at the same time to minimize the costs associated with multiple BER assessments. Please note that grant payment can only be claimed once all measures associated with an application have been completed, including the BER assessment.

For registered BER assessors this means a number of requirements:
You now have a key role in completing a BER after upgrade works and providing the homeowner with relevant documentation to claim their grant, (BER Cert, Advisory Report and BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form). All of this should be done speedily and efficiently. Once invited to do so by the homeowner you should undertake a full BER assessment on the basis of a site visit and publish that BER to the National Administration System (NAS) Contractors undertaking HES upgrade works are required to indicate on the relevant Declaration of Works and BER Confirmation and Request for Payment forms information regarding the condition of the house prior to the HES upgrade works. The BER assessor will use this information to estimate the energy performance of the home prior to the HES upgrade works – we have called this the Pre Grant Energy Estimate of PGEE. A separate BER assessor guidance note will issue shortly which will cover this subject. Following publication of the BER and calculation of the pre-works energy performance estimate, BER assessors are required to complete and sign the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form in order to allow their clients submit a grant payment request. If a published BER existed prior to the HES upgrade works then this can be used by the BER assessor to determine the pre-works energy performance. Where SEAI detects instances of assessors delaying grant claims due to slow administration with regards the above, including returning completed documents to the homeowner, then those registered assessors will be subject to penalty points under the quality assurance scheme which can lead to sanction up to and including suspension of your registration. An assessor is not permitted to apply online for a client homeowner. Such clients should be directed to either get the assistance of a family member in completing an online application or alternatively they can apply via postal application form. Please note that there will be still some instances where Homeowners applied before the 8^th of June and selected the ‘before and after’ BER grant. In these instances you are still obliged to undertake a before and after BER. Which means two site visits and two BERs being published on NAS.

For registered BER assessors this means a number of requirements:

You now have a key role in completing a BER after upgrade works and providing the homeowner with relevant documentation to claim their grant, (BER Cert, Advisory Report and BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form). All of this should be done speedily and efficiently.
Once invited to do so by the homeowner you should undertake a full BER assessment on the basis of a site visit and publish that BER to the National Administration System (NAS)
Contractors undertaking HES upgrade works are required to indicate on the relevant Declaration of Works and BER Confirmation and Request for Payment forms information regarding the condition of the house prior to the HES upgrade works. The BER assessor will use this information to estimate the energy performance of the home prior to the HES upgrade works – we have called this the Pre Grant Energy Estimate of PGEE. A separate BER assessor guidance note will issue shortly which will cover this subject.
Following publication of the BER and calculation of the pre-works energy performance estimate, BER assessors are required to complete and sign the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form in order to allow their clients submit a grant payment request.
If a published BER existed prior to the HES upgrade works then this can be used by the BER assessor to determine the pre-works energy performance.
Where SEAI detects instances of assessors delaying grant claims due to slow administration with regards the above, including returning completed documents to the homeowner, then those registered assessors will be subject to penalty points under the quality assurance scheme which can lead to sanction up to and including suspension of your registration.
An assessor is not permitted to apply online for a client homeowner. Such clients should be directed to either get the assistance of a family member in completing an online application or alternatively they can apply via postal application form.
Please note that there will be still some instances where Homeowners applied before the 8^th of June and selected the ‘before and after’ BER grant. In these instances you are still obliged to undertake a before and after BER. Which means two site visits and two BERs being published on NAS.

What measures are eligible for a grant under the HES scheme?
Grants will be provided to homeowners who invest in energy efficiency improvements in the following area:

Roof Insulation
Wall Insulation - this includes either cavity wall, internal dry lining or external insulation
Installation of a High Efficiency (>90%) Gas or Oil fired Boiler greater than 90% with Heating Controls Upgrade*
Heating Controls Upgrade*
Building Energy Rating (BER) – is an integral part to the scheme and is undertaken after grant aided works are completed**

*Minimum requirement of: 2 zones (space and water) with 7 day programmer (time and temperature) control and boiler interlock, time and temperature control of electric immersion heater and either 1 more zone control or 3 TRV's.

**This comes into effect from the 8^th of June 2010. As a BER certificate is required for each application, it is advisable that homeowners apply for, and undertake, all planned grant aided works at the same time to minimize the costs associated with multiple BERs. Note that grant payment can only be claimed once all measures associated with your application have been completed, including the BER assessment.

What is a BER requirement under the HES scheme?

The Home Energy Saving scheme provides grant aid to homeowners towards upgrades of roof insulation, wall insulation and heating systems. In order to measure the impact of the HES programme, SEAI has introduced a requirement for homeowners to undertake a BER after the upgrade works have been completed. This BER is a standard BER, undertaken in accordance with the prevailing guidelines for BER of existing homes. The BER assessment is to be completed by assessors further to a site visit after HES works have been completed, and carried out strictly within the rules provided in the BER Assessor’s Code of Practice, the DEAP Methodology and the DEAP Survey Guide. 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.

What grant is available for undertaking a BER?

A homeowner is only entitled to BER funding of €100 once per home. This funding will be applied to the Homeowner’s grant application automatically provided they have never applied previously for BER funding. They will be informed during the online grant application process if BER funding is available for their home or as part of your Letter of Grant Offer if you have applied through the post.

Was the BER grant originally €200?

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.

Why is a BER now required?

The HES programme has proved to be extremely popular with homeowners, with over 60,000 applications processed to date. However, Ireland has ambitious energy reduction and climate change targets to be met in 2020. If achieved, our dependence on imported fossil fuels will greatly reduce along with lower energy bills for homeowners. To meet these challenging targets we need to both incentivise and inform householders about steps that can be taken to reduce energy usage, while understanding the thermal efficiency of Ireland’s housing stock. Making a BER mandatory will help deliver on both of these aims.

When must the BER be undertaken?

The BER assessment must be conducted after the HES upgrade works are completed. It is up to the homeowner to select you and request a BER assessment, once they have completed all the works for which they have applied for under the HES grant. However in instances where Homeowners applied before the 8^th of June and selected the ‘before and after’ BER grant, you are still obliged to undertake a before and after BER, which will result in two site visits and two BERs being published on NAS.

What is the Pre Grant Energy Estimate or PGEE?

The Pre Grant Energy Estimate is effectively an estimate of the energy performance of the home prior to the HES upgrade works being undertaken. It is used to establish the effectiveness of the upgrade works and will allow the change arising from the HES upgrade works, in terms of annual primary energy usage and CO₂ emissions, to be estimated. It can be based upon:

A published BER, prior to upgrade works, if one exists
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 information used to assist this estimate will be on the back of the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form and has been completed by the contractor(s) who undertake the works

What is a Declaration of Works (DOW) form?

The Declaration of Works (DOW) form is a statement regarding the works undertaken, when and at what cost and is completed by a HES Registered contractor, signed by them and co-signed by the homeowner. For the purposes of the PGEE BER, the DOW also contains the indicative estimates by the contractor of the condition of the home prior to works. The contractor is required to transcribe this information onto the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form in order to allow the BER assessor complete a pre-works energy performance estimate.

What is the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form?

The BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form has three functions:

Captures the relevant data from the BER undertaken by the BER assessor and the matching pre-works energy performance estimate data
Captures the pre-works condition of the home as indicated by the various contractors used by BER Assessor to calculate the PGEE.Allows the homeowner declare that works are completed, a BER has been published and to thereafter make a payment claim for their grant

Where an official pre-works BER is not available then the condition of the roofs, walls, heating system and heating controls prior to the grant works being carried out may be used to estimate the before HES energy performance of the home. Contractors undertaking works will make the necessary information available to assessors on the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form.

The information recorded by the contractors will reflect the condition of walls, attic and heating system before HES works. The estimated U-value of the walls and roofs prior to the insulation, as well as the exact surface area covered by new insulation, must be noted by contractors.

When do I have to complete the BER and the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form?

You can only sign / date the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form after you have completed the assessment, PUBLISHED the BER and (as necessary), calculated the pre-works energy performance estimate and have been paid by the homeowner. This will likely require you to take the form away following the site survey but you are requested to act expeditiously in all necessary steps and in particular in returning the signed and dated form to your client as soon as physically possible otherwise you may delay your clients grant payment claim. We recommend that you return the completed form at the same time as supplying the BER cert and advisory report to the homeowner.

The assessor is expected to complete and sign all necessary documentation so that the homeowner is in a position to submit their paperwork within the six month grant offer period. The assessor must ensure that assessments are conducted and published in a timely manner. A BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form, completed and signed by the assessor, must be made available without delay to the homeowner upon completion of the BER assessment in order to facilitate their grant payment request

Assessors who are found to undermine the HES rules or impede a grant payment will be subject to penalty points under the EPBD QA scheme.

What if there was an extension at the same time as the HES works?

In cases where the home has had a new extension added at the time of the HES works, the homeowner will detail the new extension floor area in the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form. When the assessor is estimating the pre-works energy performance, the floor area, including the new extension, must be used as the dwelling floor area in DEAP. In other words, the floor area in DEAP should be the same for both the after BER and the before works energy performance estimate. It should be noted that extensions are NOT eligible for HES grant support. Only works carried out on the pre-2006 portion of the home can be supported.

Where do I find more information about the HES scheme?

BER assessors undertaking this work must ensure that they are appropriately briefed on the rules of the HES scheme. All rules and terms and conditions can be downloaded from www.seai.ie/HES.

How do I become a SEAI registered assessor?
For information on becoming an SEAI registered assessor please go to www.seai.ie/ber.

Please click here for more Assessor FAQ's.

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