Building Energy Rating (BER) Integrated into Home Energy Saving scheme - Homeowners

From June 8^th, 2010, SEAI will introduce two new features to the Home Energy Saving (HES) scheme designed to further empower consumers, first by guiding them on suitable upgrade works and secondly informing them of the impact of works undertaken.

SEAI has developed a smart online Home Energy Self Survey which only takes minutes to complete, taking homeowners through a number of simple steps to identify the current condition of their home and guiding them towards the most suitable upgrade works. This new survey will be offered to all applicants at the start of the online application process and is also available in hard copy on request from the SEAI call centre (1850-927000). The survey complements the existing fast track online application system and links directly to SEAI’s other online resources including the Buyers’ Guides

A Building Energy Rating (BER) will 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. Only one BER assessment will attract grant aid of €100.

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 BER assessments. Please note that grant payment can only be claimed once all measures associated with your application have been completed, including the BER assessment.

• Decide what works you want to do and select your contractor(s). You may use our smart online Home Energy Self Survey to help you decide what works to do, or if you have already had a BER assessment then the Advisory Report will be able to guide you.  Remember, you should not proceed with any works before you have a grant offer.
• Apply using our fast online application system at www.seai.ie/hes or submit a hard copy application by post. In the instance where you don’t have a personal e-mail address please ask a relative or trusted close friend for use of their e-mail address. It is very important that neither a contractor nor assessor applies on your behalf as this may void your grant offer. Wait until you get your grant offer from SEAI which you should confirm acceptance of immediately. Your offer will be accompanied by a number of important documents which must be completed by your contractors and BER assessor to allow grant payment.
• Go ahead and get the works done making sure your contractor completes all sections of the relevant Declarations of Works and BER Confirmation and Request for Payment forms including the information relating to your home before the works were completed.
• Select a registered BER assessor (see www.seai.ie/ber) to undertake a BER of your home once all the works have been completed . Make sure your BER assessor completes all sections of the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form supplied to you at time of offer
• Make sure you correctly sign and date all relevant Declarations of Works forms and the BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form and return them without delay to SEAI to claim your grant payment.

All grant claims must be accompanied by a BER Confirmation and Request for Payment form completed by a registered BER assessor and a grant of €100 is available to homeowners towards the cost of the first such assessment. Subsequent grant aided works must also be accompanied by a BER but will not be grant supported. So where possible you should submit all grant applications / grant claims together and thus avoid the cost of multiple BERs.