Grants · 9 grants · 4 types of home · SEAI pages read 3 Oct 2026
SEAI grants pay 82% of a typical cavity wall job, but 19% of solar panels
For a semi-detached house, SEAI pays €1,300 of a typical €1,585 cavity wall job, and €1,800 of a typical €9,500 job for solar panels (SEAI's median prices, the first half of 2026). A heat pump gets the most: up to €14,500 for a house. Every grant has to be approved before any work starts.
A 2000s estate of semi-detached houses: the site's reference house for what each grant covers.
See your grants and what you’d pay
About 10 seconds. See your numbers first, then get quotes if you want them.
€14,500
Heat pump, house, with boiler scrappage
SEAI heat pump page · read 3 Oct 2026
SEAI rule82%
Of a typical cavity wall job, semi-detached
€1,300 ÷ €1,585 · SEAI median costs H1 2026
Published figure19%
Of a typical job for solar panels, semi-detached
€1,800 ÷ €9,500 · SEAI median costs H1 2026
Published figure88,000
Grant applications in 2026, by 17 September
Dáil answer, PQ 13 · 17 Sep 2026
Published figure4–6 weeks
From complete paperwork to payment
SEAI pages · read 8 Sep 2026
SEAI ruleUpdated · grants checked · prices SEAI H1 2026 · How we know · Corrections
Where this sits · the grant steps
Every SEAI grant runs the same six steps. SEAI won't pay for work that starts before it approves.
- Assessa BER, or a home energy assessment
- Applyonline, before any work starts
- ApproveSEAI's offer lasts 8 months
- Worksby an SEAI-registered contractor
- Claimpost-works BER and forms
- Paid4–6 weeks after complete paperwork
- The idea behind itApply, approve, works and payment are different steps
- You are hereEvery SEAI grant
- Next questionHow long does each step take?
Grants cover 82% of cavity wall insulation and 19% of solar panels
Each grant against SEAI's median price for the job on a semi-detached house, the first half of 2026. SEAI rule
A heat pump grant covers up to 87% of a typical semi-D job; solar panels, 19%
Against SEAI’s median costs, grants cover up to 87% of a heat pump and 82% of cavity wall insulation, but 23% of heating controls and 19% of solar panels.
Each bar is the job's median cost for a semi-D (SEAI, January to June 2026); the filled part is the grant on the individual route. Heat pump: €10,500 for the unit, €2,000 for the heating system and, since 29 Sep 2026, a €2,000 boiler scrappage grant: €14,500 of €16,741, or 75% without the scrappage grant, which needs an oil, gas, solid-fuel or storage-heating system removed.
Sources: SEAI grant pages, transcribed in pipeline/inputs/grants_2026.csv, 3 Oct 2026 · SEAI, Median costs of individual energy upgrades, Jan-Jun 2026 (H1 2026), 2026
The numbers
| Job | Grant | SEAI median cost | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heat pump | €14,500 | €16,741 | 87% |
| Cavity wall insulation | €1,300 | €1,585 | 82% |
| Attic insulation | €1,500 | €2,101 | 71% |
| Windows | €3,000 | €7,110 | 42% |
| Internal wall insulation | €3,500 | €9,843 | 36% |
| External wall insulation | €6,000 | €23,219 | 26% |
| Heating controls | €700 | €3,000 | 23% |
| Solar panels | €1,800 | €9,500 | 19% |
What each grant pays, by type of home
The most SEAI pays on the individual route, and SEAI's median price for the job on a semi-detached house. SEAI rule
| Grant | Apartment | Mid-terrace | Semi-detached | Detached | The job, semi-detached |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat pump | up to €11,500 | up to €14,500 | up to €14,500 | up to €14,500 | €16,741 |
| Attic insulation | €1,100 | €1,400 | €1,500 | €2,000 | €2,101 |
| Cavity wall insulation | €700 | €850 | €1,300 | €1,800 | €1,585 |
| Internal wall insulation | €1,500 | €2,000 | €3,500 | €4,500 | €9,843 |
| External wall insulation | €3,000 | €3,500 | €6,000 | €8,000 | €23,219 |
| New windows and doors | €1,500 | €1,800 | €3,000 | €4,000 | €7,110 |
| Solar panels | €1,800 | €1,800 | €1,800 | €1,800 | €9,500 |
| Heating controls | €700 | €700 | €700 | €700 | €3,000 |
| Solar hot water | €1,200 | €1,200 | €1,200 | €1,200 | not published |
SEAI grants, read 3 Oct 2026 · SEAI median costs H1 2026 · heat pump: the most in all, with the €2,000 boiler scrappage grant
What can your house get? The grant calculator picks out every grant for your type of home, with its source. Grant questions, answered in SEAI’s own words.
Six steps from application to payment
Every SEAI grant runs the same steps. SEAI publishes some of the waits, and not the one in the middle. SEAI rule
Approval takes minutes and payment 4–6 weeks; the wait in between isn't published
SEAI publishes minutes from online application to offer, 30 days to accept, 8 months to finish and claim, and 4–6 weeks to pay. It publishes nothing for the assess, works or claim steps.
The six steps of the do-it-yourself grant route, in order. Under each step is the timing SEAI publishes, or a dashed box where it publishes none; we read every SEAI page, the terms and the homeowner guides on 8 Sep 2026. The 8-month window runs from the offer to the claim (One Stop Shop route: 12 months). Nothing starts before the offer. Work or materials paid for before it lose the grant.
Sources: SEAI individual grant pages, as summarised in content/application-status.md, 8 Sep 2026 · SEAI How to apply and homeowner application guide, summarised in content/how-to-apply.md, 8 Sep 2026
The numbers
| Step | Who | Published timing |
|---|---|---|
| Assess | you + assessor | not published |
| Apply | you | minutes (online; by post ~5 working days) |
| Approve | SEAI | 30 days (to accept the offer) |
| Works | contractor | not published |
| Claim | you + assessor | not published |
| Paid | SEAI | 4–6 weeks (after complete paperwork) |
The routes, and who each one is for
- Individual grantsOne job at a time. You hire the contractor and pay; SEAI pays you back.
- One Stop ShopsThe whole house in one contract, and the grant comes off the bill.
- Warmer Homes (free)Free upgrades for homes on certain welfare payments. The wait was 23 months in the first half of 2026.
- Home Energy Upgrade LoanA low-rate loan for the works, through a One Stop Shop.
- Boiler replacementNo grant for a new boiler; the scrappage grant comes with a heat pump.
- If you rent it outWhich grants a landlord can claim, and the tax deduction.
- If you are retiredFuel Allowance opens the free upgrades.
- If you are over 70What the rules say, and what people are told.
How the grants have changed since 2019
SEAI's grant for a semi-detached house then and now, read from archived copies of SEAI's pages. SEAI rule
Since 2019 the heat pump grant has quadrupled; the solar panel grant has halved
For a semi-D, the attic grant went from €400 to €1,500 and the cavity wall grant from €400 to €1,300. Heating controls (€700) and solar water heating (€1,200) pay what they paid in 2019.
The open circle is the grant in Jun 2019 and the filled circle the grant on 5 Oct 2026, both on SEAI's individual route for a semi-detached or end-terrace house; the right-hand column divides one by the other. Heat pump €3,500 to €14,500; attic insulation €400 to €1,500; cavity wall insulation €400 to €1,300; internal wall insulation €2,200 to €3,500; external wall insulation €4,500 to €6,000; heating controls €700 to €700; solar water heating €1,200 to €1,200; solar panels (max) €3,800 to €1,800; windows (new in 2026): no individual grant then, €3,000 now. Solar panels: 2019's €3,800 needed a battery (€1,400 without); today €1,800, plus a separate €600 battery grant from 6 Oct 2026.
Sources: Internet Archive captures of seai.ie grant pages, 11 May 2019 to 2 Oct 2026 (research/data-pulls/2026-10-05/history/grant_history.csv, 148 rows, each tied to a saved capture), 5 Oct 2026 · SEAI news, 'Government launches the National Retrofitting Scheme', 9 Feb 2022 · SEAI heat pump page, read by fixmyber, 2 Oct 2026
The numbers
| Job (semi-D) | Jun 2019 | Oct 2026 | Now ÷ then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heat pump | €3,500 | €14,500 | 4.1 |
| Attic insulation | €400 | €1,500 | 3.8 |
| Cavity wall insulation | €400 | €1,300 | 3.3 |
| Internal wall insulation | €2,200 | €3,500 | 1.6 |
| External wall insulation | €4,500 | €6,000 | 1.3 |
| Heating controls | €700 | €700 | 1.0 |
| Solar water heating | €1,200 | €1,200 | 1.0 |
| Solar panels (max) | €3,800 | €1,800 | 0.5 |
| Windows (new in 2026) | — | €3,000 | new |
Questions people ask
- How much is the heat pump grant?
- Up to €14,500 for a house and €11,500 for an apartment, including the €2,000 boiler scrappage grant, which is paid when an oil, gas, solid-fuel or storage-heater system comes out.
- Can I start work before the grant is approved?
- No. In SEAI's words: "You must have grant approval in place before you start work." Work or materials paid for before the offer lose the grant.
- How long does SEAI take to pay?
- SEAI says to allow 4–6 weeks after complete paperwork. The last average anyone published, from application to payment, was about 170 days (Dáil answer, 17 October 2023).
- Can I get more than one grant at once?
- Yes. In SEAI's words: "You can select multiple measures e.g. attic, wall, heating controls when applying."
How we know
- Grants: SEAI's grant pages, last read 3 October 2026, and checked against the plan engine's figures on every build.
- Prices: SEAI's median costs of individual upgrades, H1 2026: what contractors charged on grant-aided jobs, windows included.
- Waits: SEAI's published timings, read from its pages; the free upgrades wait and the payment average are ministers' answers to Dáil questions.
- History: SEAI's grant pages as the Internet Archive saved them, at every capture where an amount changed.
Sources
SEAI individual energy upgrade grants, read 3 Oct 2026 · SEAI, Median costs of individual energy upgrades, H1 2026 · Dáil answer, PQ 107, 17 Oct 2023
Found a mistake? Every fix is dated on Corrections. Method in full: How we know.
See your grants and what you’d pay
Four questions about your home, then your numbers. Get quotes from registered contractors if you want them.
Updated · grants checked · prices SEAI H1 2026 · How we know · Corrections