Social welfare recipients could save up to €900 in energy costs a year as the Government examines the “immediate rollout” of solar panels under the warmer home scheme and higher retrofitting grants.
The Irish Examiner is reporting that ministers will soon examine a menu of options to support households and businesses with energy costs through enhanced retrofitting programmes, reports Breaking News.
Other proposed measures include higher grants for solar panels for people in receipt of certain social welfare payments, along with grants for landlords providing HAP payments and rental accommodation scheme tenancies.
The Irish Examiner reports that a menu of options for enhanced retrofitting measures for both homes and businesses will be brought to Cabinet by Energy Minister Darragh O’Brien in the coming weeks, to be administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, reports Breaking News.
This includes proposals to provide solar panels as standard under the Warm Home Scheme, a scheme run by the SEAI which provides free energy upgrades to homeowners in receipt of certain social welfare payments.
This includes the fuel allowance, the working family payment, jobseeker’s allowance, disability allowance, domiciliary care allowance, one-parent family payment and carer’s allowance, reports Breaking News.
Another proposed measure would see grants of up to €9,000 for solar panels and battery energy storage systems for households in receipt of certain social welfare payments.
It is estimated that these measures could result in savings of up to €878 per year for households deemed suitable for the solar panels, reports Breaking News.
It is also proposed that a new pilot scheme could be introduced for landlords providing HAP and rental accommodation scheme tenancies, in which a local authority pays rent directly to the landlord with the tenant paying a contribution to the council, with the rental accommodation scheme operating in the same manner, reports Breaking News.
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