Registered contractors still high risk

Most grant aided contractors do not show “good performance”, as the ROI government plans to invest €8 billion to 2030 in home energy upgrades.

A record number of contractors were removed from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) contractors register in 2021, according to statistics supplied to Selfbuild by the SEAI.

291 contractors were deregistered in 2021 as compared to 113 in 2020 and 57 in 2019. The figure was 213 in 2017 and 220 in 2018.

To qualify for a Better Energy Homes grant, homeowners currently must choose a contractor from the SEAI’s list of registered contractors to carry out their home energy upgrades.

However, homeowners have no means to check contractors’ track records.

The Better Energy Homes scheme recently increased the insulation grant amounts on offer, among other measures announced as part of the government’s €8 billion retrofit package announced in February 2022.

Quality Assurance and Disciplinary Procedure (QADP) statistics, source: SEAI. Colour coded statistics are for inspections in the six preceding months, deregistrations are a total for the full year.

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Written by Astrid Madsen

Astrid Madsen is the editor of the SelfBuild magazine. She previously held the same role in an Irish trade publication, before that she worked at the National Standards Authority of Ireland. She graduated with a BA in Urban Studies from Columbia University in New York and holds an MBA from the Instituto de Estudios Bursatiles in Madrid. France of origin, she now lives in Portarlington, County Laois, where she's taken on the task of renovating a listed building! Email astrid.madsen@selfbuild.ie

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