Money Guide Ireland

The  UK have just announced a boiler scrappage scheme – with up to £400 off a new ‘A’ rated boiler when householders replace an old  “G” Rated one.

Here in Ireland – there have been grants available for a while now for homeowners who upgrade their old oil or gas boilers  to high efficiency condensing boilers i.e. – with a  “seasonal” efficiency of 90% or more.
Irish householders can get a grant of €700 Euro towards the cost of a new efficient oil or gas boiler. The grant  is only available if you also qualify for a grant towards upgrading your central heating controls. The grant available for upgrade of heating controls is €500 – and the grant for the new boiler is €200. With a typical price for installation of  a new condensing boiler and SEI qualifying heating controls of about €2000 – the net cost to the homeowner would be just €1300.

Figures from OFTEC  – say that condensing  boilers could save as much as 18% in oil costs for heating and hot water. So if you currently spend €2000 a year on oil – you could save  €360 a year. You would recover the initial cost of the boiler and fitting  in about 3.5 years.
With the freezing winter we are having – anything that reduces the cost of heating has to be a good thing. The price of heating oil will soon be rising again because of the new Carbon Tax imposed at the last budget – so you could make an up front investment to make long term savings and reduce carbon emissions too.

Grants towards new boilers  are available from Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI).  The Home Energy Saving Grant is available to any owner of a dwelling built before 2006. The work must be carried out by a contractor from the SEI’s registered list.

All completed installations where a grant is awarded may be subject to verification and/or technical inspections-  homeowners will be notified by SEI prior to the inspections.  See More Details and application forms here

If you are thinking of going even greener – and using renewable energy for heating – instead of oil or gas (such as wood pellet boilers)  – you can get grants of up to €2500 Euro to help with the purchase and installation.
This SEI Greener Homes Grant is available  to Individuals intending to retrofit a new renewable energy heating system in their existing home located in the Republic of Ireland which was first occupied prior to 30^th June 2008.
Grants are available for Wood Pellet Boilers , Heat Pumps and Solar Energy. Up to €3500 is available towards Heat Pumps.