Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland - Grants

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administer the Better Energy Homes Scheme. This scheme assists home owners to improve their insulation. Carrying out improvements like these will help to improve the comfort of your home, reduce your energy costs and cut down on your greenhouse gas emissions. The grants available are listed in the table below.. These grants make insulating and reducing your homes energy consumption even more cost effective than before, The application can be done online in less than 10 minutes!. Click here or on the link to the right to apply online now.

With Hometherm you no longer need to wait months for SEAI to pay your grant into your account. We discount the grant amount from your project cost and cliam it directly from SEAI

Hometherm is a registered contractor under the Better Energy Homes Scheme for Cavity wall, External wall & Attic insulation. The Hometherm SEAI Contractor Number is 11721. This number is required when filling out the online application or the offline application form, links to both on the right.

Grant Approval must be in place prior to any purchase of materials or commencement of measures undertaken. 
You may apply several times, however the grant value of your first application must be at least €400. The BER assessment grant cannot form part of the €400 amount. 
All works must be carried out by a contractor registered with Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.
If you have any other questions on the scheme click here or contact us by email or phone and we will be happy to answer any questions you have.

Revenue - Home Renovation Incentive (HRI)

The Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) is a new initiative that was introduced in Budget 2014. The good news is that Homeowners can avail of a Better Energy Homes grant and the Home Renovation Incentive.

The HRI provides a tax credit of 13.5% for Homeowners on repair, renovation or improvement works carried out on their principal private residence. It applies to works carried out and paid for on or after the 25th October 2013.

The work must cost a minimum of €5,000 (excluding VAT) and while there is no upper limit to the cost of the work, the tax credit will only be given in relation to a maximum of €30,000 (excluding VAT). The work must be completed by a contractor who is VAT registered and fully tax compliant.

If a Homeowner is availing of both a Better Energy Homes grant and the HRI, please note that 3 times the value of the grant payment must be deducted from the eligible expenditure. For example:

A couple spend €20,000 (excl. VAT) on renovation works and they get a grant from SEAI of €1,100. They simply subtract three times the grant (€1,100 x 3 = €3,300) from the total spend (€20,000) and the remaining amount of €16,700 (€20,000 - €3,300 = €16,700) qualifies for a tax credit of €2,254.50 (€16,700 x 13.5% = €2,254.50).

What types of work qualify?

The work must be carried out on a person's main or principal private residence and qualifying works can include extensions, painting and decorating, plumbing, tiling, plastering, supply and fitting of windows, supply and fitting of kitchens, bathroom upgrades, landscaping, etc., which qualify for the rate of 13.5% VAT. The work can be carried out as one job or on a phased basis and it can be carried out by one or more Contractors.

Qualifying contractors

The incentive is designed to support tax compliant contractors who must be registered for VAT. To operate under the Home Renovation Incentive, a compliant contractor is one who qualifies for the 0% or 20% rate of RCT.

How Hometherm will register your energy upgrade works with Revenue

All works and payments will have to be registered electronically with Revenue when the electronic HRI system is available in early April 2014. You will need the property ID from the homeowner in order to enter HRI work on the electronic system. The property ID was included on all Local Property Tax letters issued to homeowners by Revenue. If you have not already done so, you might consider obtaining this information from your customers now to avoid delays when the system goes live. 

You will be able to enter the HRI system through the "My Services" page in ROS. A further announcement will be made closer to the go-live date.

Revenue provides full details of the Incentive on their website including detailed Frequently Asked Questions.

Any queries relating to the HRI should be directed to Revenue and more information is available at: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/reliefs/hri/index.html