Is it time you upgraded your home into a cosy, well-insulated haven with low heating bills?
As the war in the Middle East shows no sign of stopping and the price of oil continues to rise, anything you can do to reduce energy bills is worth grabbing onto.
The Government recently announced a new raft of grants to help achieve this dream by retro-fitting our homes with insulation, new windows and heat pumps.
Grants towards getting a heat pump have potentially doubled to €12,500; you can get €5,700 in window grants as a standalone measure - while some insulation grants have gone up slightly.
However, many home upgrade grants remain unchanged, or even reduced, even as building costs soar. And there are still onerous expenses involved to fully upgrading your home to make a heat pump worthwhile.
In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, many people can't afford to spend money to 'save the planet' and will want to know: do these new measures stack up financially?
So let's cut through the ministerial hype and see what's really on offer:
HEAT PUMP SYSTEM GRANTS
WHAT ARE HEAT PUMPS AND WHAT DO THEY COST?
Air source heat pumps absorb heat from the outside air at low temperature into a fluid to heat your house and hot water.
They can still extract heat when it is as cold as -15C, with the fluid passing through a compressor which warms it up and transfers it into a heating circuit.
They extract renewable heat from the environment, meaning the heat output is greater than the electricity input - and they are therefore seen as energy efficient.
There are two types, which are air-to-water and air-to-air.
Ground source heat pumps use pipes buried in the garden to extract heat from the ground, which can then heat radiators, warm air heating systems and hot water. They circulate a mixture of water and antifreeze around a ground loop pipe. Heat from the ground is absorbed into the fluid and then passes through a heat exchanger.
They circulate a mixture of water and antifreeze around a ground loop pipe. Heat from the ground is absorbed into the fluid and then passes through a heat exchanger.
Installation costs up to €35k depending on the length of the loop, and running costs depend on the home and its insulation.
The systems normally come with a two or three year warranty - and work for 20 years, with a check every three to five years.
Previously, you could get a maximum grant of €6,500 for the heat pump itself.
As of last month (February 3), you can now also get €2,000 for upgrading radiators and pipework and a new renewable heating 'bonus' of €4,000.
So that's a near doubling of the maximum grant, to €12,500.
A heat pump should save you €1,000 a year on your heating bills on average if your house is very well insulated, according to Irishheatpumps.ie.
But what does the pump actually cost and how soon will you make back the substantial outlay?
Well, that's the €17k question. You could pay that much (€17,300 in fact) for a heat pump if you 'go with the first company' that calls you back, according to Irishheatpumps.ie, which has a handy calculator.
Or you could pay €13,800 if you shop around, the site says (this sum is for the heat pump alone, excluding pipework and any other upgrading to make your home suitable for a heat pump which only work well in a well-insulated home).
The €4,500 difference between those two sums makes the difference between saving a lot of money - or just a little.
Managing your electricity bills is also a huge factor if you get a heat pump as you'll be using a lot of electricity.
WINDOWS AND DOORS
From last week (March 3) a new grant worth up to €4k was introduced for the installation of energy-efficient windows and doors (to replace poorly performing versions).
'This is only for homes where the building fabric meets a specified minimum performance standard,' the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) explains.
'Many homes will already meet this standard. For others, they may also need to fit attic and/or wall insulation - measures for which generous grants are already available.'
But is this a new grant, I asked the SEAI? 'This is new for those doing single measures (not a full retrofit). It is €4k maximum for windows and €800 for two doors, so the overall maximum is €5,600,' a spokesman said.
With gas prices increasing and the increasing need to reduce fossil fuel air source heat pumps are slowly starting to replace the gas boiler
WALL INSULATION
Along with the other measures last month, the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment Darragh O'Brien announced an 'uplift' in the existing grants for cavity wall insulation and attic insulation. Translation: these grants have hardly budged, despite major cost increases.
Internal and external wall insulation remain the same at up to €4.5k and €8k respectively.
Cavity wall insulation - where they pump material into the wall - has gone up slightly by between €0 and €100 depending on the type of house. However, these grants, unlike heat pumps, are already very popular as an indisputably cost-effective way to improve the energy-efficiency of your home.
ATTIC INSULATION
Attic insulation is another relatively cheap and hassle-free option to make your home cosier.
The amount you can get rose by just a few hundred this week - barely keeping pace with how much costs have risen since these grants came in during 2022.
However, a new grant has also been introduced for first-time buyers, who can get up to €1k more than was previously available (see table).
'SECOND WALL' MEASURE
Many homeowners have previously availed of a grant for cavity or internal wall insulation. Up to now, these homeowners are precluded from receiving a grant for a second wall measure under Better Energy Homes.
However, from March 2, 2026, they can apply for a grant for a second wall measure (in line with the terms and conditions).
'Homeowners may want to further improve the level of wall insulation to make their homes even warmer and cheaper to heat (and to make their homes heat pump ready,' says the SEAI.
SOLAR GRANTS
Back in 2022, you could get a grant of up to €2,400 for installing solar panels. But the latest highest sum on offer is €1,800. So what gives?
'This grant was reduced progressively in previous years from 2022. But there is no change from the recent amounts available prior to the announcement (this week),' an SEAI spokesman said.
'The grants are intended to incentivise action, and SEAI believes that they are generous enough to do just that. Last year 58,000 homeowners benefited from grants and these increases will drive that momentum.'
SUMMARY
The Government is increasing grants for something that's 'hard to sell' to the public - i.e. heat pumps, which are pricey and controversial. You can make them work (see Consumer Eye).
The new standalone grants for windows and doors are also sizeable and should prove useful for many people who don't want to go through a big retrofit.
Getting solar panels and insulation are popular and effective, so the grants for getting these haven't risen: they are worth getting.
'The point about the upgrades is the number one thing is comfort; the second thing is energy efficiency; and the third thing is cost,' says Mel Reynolds, architect and commentator.
'They didn't get solar right initially but they did eventually. What they're trying to do here is turn the tap on and off to try and get people into it (i.e. retrofitting their homes).'
TIMING YOUR USAGE AND SHOPPING AROUND FOR THE RIGHT TARIFF CAN CUT YOUR ELECTRICITY BILLS BY 70%
Shopping around for the best electricity tariff is the way to make heat pumps really pay off.
Environmental homes expert Tim Cooper says you can save over two thirds of your energy bills by picking the right tariff.
'The cheapest tariff at the moment is under $0.06 a kWh from Pinenergy,' says Tim, who was the first person in Ireland to officially connect a home solar panel system to the electricity grid over three decades ago.
The price he quotes is just one sixth of the price of the average tariff in Ireland - 36c (Selectra. ie). There is a catch: this ultracheap rate applies only to Pinergy's smart tariff for electricity used between 2am and 5am.
Tim maintains you can run a lot of appliances during those hours, including dishwashers, washing machines, immersions tanks... and heat pumps.
'Having to run (a heat pump) all the time is a myth,' he says, pointing out that well-insulated homes can be heated in the middle of night -and retain that heat for 24 hours and beyond. Timing your electricity usage and shopping around for cheapest tariff can reduce your electricity bills by 70%.'
The number of people voluntarily installing heat pumps is so low that the Government this week launched major new grants of up to €12,500.
But the biggest downside to heat pumps is the high cost of the electricity that runs them - in Ireland anyway. Who's responsible for these high electricity prices? Yep, you've guessed it: same Government. In 2023, Irish prices were highest in Europe.
When you stripped out taxes and levies, we were ninth dearest,a 2024 report by Economic and Social Research Institute revealed (ESRI).
This would make getting a heat pump -with grants now covering much of original cost very compelling ,he says .
Buildings expert Mel Reynolds agrees that how much you save with a heat pump depends on how you use it . 'Change provider and this alone can reduce your average (energy) bill from over €3k to €1,700 ,'he says .
Mel accepts that initial cost of installing a heat pump can be daunting . 'When you get down to passive standard ,your heating costs are negligible.'
He admits there's extensive work to reach 'passive' standard . But there's new trend where people are using bigger heat pumps which can work in non-passive home doing away with need for major revamp of your home .
'The German model is interesting because they're putting in bigger heat pumps and they're more relaxed about the fabric (insulation).'