Irish householders can  avail of grants of up to 40% of the cost of energy efficiency improvement measures under the Irish Government’s Home Energy Saving Scheme (HES).
This Scheme, which is administered by SEI, provides grant assistance to homeowners for retrofit energy efficiency measures such as attic and wall insulation, very high-efficiency boilers, heating controls and Building Energy Rating (BER) assessments. The scheme is open only to owners of  a house that was built prior to 2006

The HES was allocated €49 million in 2009 but only €16.2 million was paid out in grants.  The Scheme attracted 40,724 applications in 2009 -  of which 36,454 were approved for grant aid.  The grants were used to upgrade 18,183 homes.
For 2010 €29.5m has been allocated for the Home Energy Savings Scheme.
You can find out more on sei.ie

There is a new scheme in the pipeline – the  National Energy Retrofit Programme which was announced in the 2010 Budget . Details are yet to be defined – but In broad terms the Retrofit Programme will bring together the Home Energy Saving Scheme and the Warmer Homes Scheme as well as the support programme for business and the public sector. It will also also involve the development and promotion of energy services by the energy companies.

Not long after Halifax announced they were getting out of Ireland – now another retail bank – Postbank are doing the same.
Postbank is to be “wound down” before the end of 2010 and they will not be taking on any new customers as of March 1st 2010.

Postbank was set up as a joint venture between An Post and Belgain bank Fortis in early 2007, with former AerRianta chief executive Margaret Sweeney at its helm. In  May 2009  French bank BNP Paribas took control of  Fortis.

Postbank also trade as One Direct and provide Car, Home and Life Insurance in Ireland – itt is estimated that Postbank has about 170,000 customers.

Postbank chief executive Margaret Sweeney said  “Existing customers can conduct their affairs as usual, and customers can be assured that their savings are fully secure,” she said.

The bank said it would be writing to customers in the coming weeks and they do not need to take any action at this point. It would continue to be “business as usual” for existing Postbank, One Direct and Postpoint customers.
Customer deposits continue to be covered by the Deposit Protection Scheme and the Government Guarantee Scheme.

Today’s decision does not affect An Post savings accounts which will continue to operate as normal.  Customers with any concerns or questions can contact Postbank on 1890 30 30 40 .

For the second time in a few weeks – Irish Nationwide have increased the interest rate on their 12 month fixed rate deposit account. The new rate is 3.5% – it was previously 3.35% . The only 12 month fixed rate higher than that in Ireland now is 3.6% from Investec. Both accounts need a €20k minimum deposit though. Anglo Irish are paying 3.5% to – with a €1 minimum deposit

See the top 12 month fixed rate savings accounts here

Bank of Ireland used to offer new credit card customers 0% Interest on balance transfers for 6 months – but that offer has been withdrawn as of today. New credit card customers can opt for 3.9% interest for 6 months on balance transfers OR 0% on purchases.
See all Credit Card Introductory Offers here

Get 9% off at DID Electrical this weekend in any of their 18 shops in Ireland. Just  use this voucher in store (also has a code for online discount) – valid till Suday 28th Feb 2010. Can be used on almost anything except Miele or Apple products. See voucher for full terms and conditions.

See Voucher Here

Tesco no longer offer car insurance in Ireland through Hibernian Aviva. In February 2010 – Tesco stopped working with Hibernian Aviva and have now started offering car insurance in conjunction with RSA (Royal Sun Alliance).  Tesco car insurance customers who get renewal notices from Tesco in the next few months will be getting them from RSA instead of Hibernian Aviva.
If you want to stay with Hibernian Aviva – you may well find that they will give you a cheaper quote.  If you buy online from Aviva - you get a 10% discount.

Hibernian Aviva will have to treat old Tesco insurance policy holders as new customers – because they were just the underwriters for the car insurance policy. Also – be aware that if you have made a claim in the past 3 years – Hibernian Aviva will not give you a car insurance quote.

The carbon tax on heating oil will come into effect in Ireland on May 1st 2010. The new tax will result in the price of 1000 litres of kerosene rising by around €43 Euro. If you are going to be ordering heating oil or bulk LPG in the Spring – you can save yourself a few Euro by ordering before the end of April. The current price (Feb 2010) of kerosene is around 62 cent per litre. The Carbon Tax will add 4.3 cent to the price from May 2010. The price of LPG will be rising by about €30 per 1000 litres.

As we mentioned here last December – the new Carbon Tax in Ireland has already been applied to petrol and deisel – and will also be added to Natural Gas in May – adding about €48 a year extra on the bills of a household using 14000 KwH a year. (Around  a 6% increase.)  Gas prices were just reduced in February – but those reductions will be almost wiped out in May.

It might be worthwhile considering upgrading your gas or oil boiler to a higher efficiency one that uses less fuel. Grants are available for boiler upgrades as long as you upgrade the heating contols at the same time. See more about Grants for Boilers here.

Once  children hit 17 – many  of them are keen to learn how to drive – but the high price of insurance for learner drivers can be a problem. Once they have their provisional licence – you can add them as a named driver on your own insurance policy. Adding a learner driver to your policy will increase the premiums by quite a lot -  around €800 a year in some cases .

We did a small online price comparison to see where we could find the cheapest car insurance for a 19 year old learner driver as a named driver on his mother’s policy. The quotes were obtained on February 20th and 21st 2010.

Car insurance quotes were requested for a 45 year old female with a full clean licence driving a 2004 Fiat Panda 1.2l  in the Galway area.
Her son was added as a named driver – he is 19 , a student with a provisional licence that he has held for a year. These are the online insurance quotes we obtained for comprehensive insurance with breakdown cover included. (Cheapest price first)

Aviva €1210.48 -  with a €600 excess
123.ie €1221.41   with €500 excess and windscreen cover
Quinn €1284.54   300 excess  incl breakdown
Chill.ie €1412      with a €250 excess and windscreen cover
Quoteme.ie €1624.20
Insure.ie €1612.23 -   €600 excess amd breakdown NOT incl
AA €1855.39  windscreen ncb protection (No  breakdown cover)
FBD  – no quote could be provided online

Surprisingly – Aviva  – (formerly known as Hibernian) came out with the lowest price – some €645 cheaper than the highest price in the small survey. The next cheapest was from 123.ie  – which  did include windscreen cover and a lower excess.


One extra financial advantage we discovered with Aviva insurance for provisional licence holders – is that they offer 6 months FREE accompanied learner driver insurance if you buy 10 driving lessons from them.
The cost of insurance cover with Aviva for the mother alone was €323.61 – so the 6 months free cover for the provisional licence holder is worth €443.43 in this example.  The Aviva driving school say lessons cost from €42 an hour – so basically the lessons end up costing you nothing.