Grant · Heat pump · SEAI rules read 3 Oct 2026
Heat pump grant: up to €14,500, 87% of a typical semi-detached job
SEAI pays up to €14,500 toward a heat pump in a house built before 2021 (SEAI, read 3 October 2026). SEAI's median price for a semi-detached job in the first half of 2026 was €16,741. So the full grant covers 87% of it. You get it all only when an oil, gas, solid-fuel or storage-heater system comes out. Without that part, it covers 75%.
The outdoor unit of an air-to-water heat pump. It sits outside the house, about the size of a large suitcase.
Wärmepumpe Außeneinheit (air-to-water heat pump outdoor unit) · Mueller felix · CC BY-SA 4.0
See your grants for a heat pump, and what you’d pay
About 10 seconds. See your numbers first, then get quotes if you want them.
€14,500
The most SEAI pays toward a heat pump in a house
SEAI grant page · read 3 Oct 2026 · €10,500 + €2,000 + €2,000
SEAI rule€16,741
SEAI's median price for a semi-detached job
SEAI median costs · H1 2026
Published figure87%
How much of that the full grant covers
€14,500 ÷ €16,741 · 75% without scrappage
Published figure46.6%
Homes sold or let that can skip the heat-loss check
HLI ≤ 2.3 · BER file 8 Sep 2026 · n=161,297
BER assessment9.82c
A unit of heat from a heat pump. Oil: 18.0c
SEAI fuel costs · 1 Jul 2026
Published figureUpdated · grants checked · BER file · prices SEAI H1 2026 · fuel prices 1 Jul 2026 · How we know · Corrections
Where this sits · the heat chain
The heating only puts back what the house loses. A heat pump works best when the house loses less.
- Fabricwalls, roof, floor, windows
- Airdraughts and ventilation
- Heatheat pump or boiler, radiators, controls
- Usebills, comfort, the BER
- The idea behind itFabric first: the heat-loss line
- You are hereHeat pump grant
- Next questionDo you need a technical assessment first?
Is there a grant for a heat pump? Yes: up to €14,500 for a house, in three parts
SEAI's grant against SEAI's median price for the job, the first half of 2026. The same for every house; apartments get less. SEAI rule
The heat pump grant covers up to 87% of a typical semi-D job
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 the grant covers, by type of home
| House type | SEAI's median price | Most the grant pays | Covers | Left to pay | Without scrappage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-terrace | €16,000 | €14,500 | 91% | €1,500 | 78% |
| Semi-detached | €16,741 | €14,500 | 87% | €2,241 | 75% |
| Detached | €17,000 | €14,500 | 85% | €2,500 | 74% |
| Apartment | €9,025 | €11,500 | Check first | Check first | Check first |
SEAI grants, read 3 Oct 2026 · SEAI median costs H1 2026 · "Check first": the apartment grant is more than SEAI's typical apartment price
The heating controls grant is not paid alongside a heat pump grant; the heat pump comes with its own controls. A replacement heat pump — swapping an old one for a new one — gets a smaller grant, without the scrappage or pipework grants.
Check first: apartments. The apartment grant, up to €11,500, is more than SEAI's median apartment job (€9,025), and SEAI pays no more than the work costs. Ask SEAI how it's capped before you count on the full amount.
Check first: One Stop Shops. SEAI's One Stop Shop table still lists €12,500 for a house (read 8 October 2026). Ask the One Stop Shop which amount your job gets.
A 1990s detached house on oil, rated C: in our model the heat pump alone pays for itself in about 5 years at the middle of the range, saving about €830 a year. A group of 47,829 homes like it, not your house. Our model
Our model · re-run 5 Oct 2026 · SEAI H1 2026 prices · fuel prices 1 Jul 2026 · standard occupancy
Five things SEAI asks for, in its own words
Our plain version first, then SEAI's sentence as we read it. SEAI decides each application, not us. SEAI rule
The home was built and lived in before 2021. SEAI rule
“before 2021 for the Heat Pump System and;”
SEAI, Individual grants: Homeowner Application Guide, read 10 Oct 2026
Older homes need a heat-loss check first, unless their energy rating already shows it. SEAI rule
“Homes built before 2007: A Technical Assessment is required if you do not have a valid BER assessment or if your BER Assessment indicates your dwelling has a high heat loss.”
SEAI, Heat pump systems grant, read 10 Oct 2026
A recent energy rating with a low enough heat loss means no check is needed. SEAI rule
“You do not need one if your valid BER says your Heat Loss Indicator is equal to or less than 2.3 W/(K.m2).”
SEAI, Heat pump systems grant, read 10 Oct 2026
The grant is approved before any work starts. SEAI rule
“You must have grant approval in place before you start work.”
SEAI, Individual grants: Homeowner Application Guide, read 10 Oct 2026
The scrappage part is paid when the old heating comes out. SEAI rule
“A €2,000 Boiler Scrappage grant where an oil or gas boiler, or an electric storage system, or solid fuel system is being removed. The grant is also paid Homeowners without central heating where a heat pump is being installed.”
SEAI, Heat pump systems grant, read 10 Oct 2026
For your type of home: detachedsemi-detachedmid-terraceapartment
Approval takes minutes. Payment takes 4–6 weeks
Every SEAI grant runs the same steps. A heat pump adds one at the start: the heat-loss check. 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. The marked step is the one this page is about: assess.
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) |
Up from €3,500 in 2019 to €14,500 now
SEAI's grant for a semi-detached house at every change since May 2019, read from archived copies of SEAI's pages. SEAI rule
The heat pump grant for a semi-D has gone from €3,500 to €14,500 since 2019
It rose in three steps: €6,500 in Feb 2022, €12,500 in Feb 2026 and €14,500 on 29 Sep 2026. The wall grants rose once, in 2022. The solar panel grant has fallen at every change, from up to €3,800 with a battery to €1,800.
Each line is the grant SEAI listed for a semi-detached or end-terrace house on its individual route (you manage the job), read from Internet Archive copies of seai.ie’s grant pages at every capture where the page changed. Heat pump: €3,500 from May 2019, €6,500 from Feb 2022, €12,500 from Feb 2026, €14,500 from Sep 2026. External wall: €4,500 from May 2019, €6,000 from Feb 2022. Internal wall: €2,200 from May 2019, €3,500 from Feb 2022. Windows: €3,000 from Mar 2026. Solar panels: €3,800 from May 2019, €3,000 from Feb 2020, €2,400 from Feb 2022, €2,100 from Jan 2024, €1,800 from Jan 2025. Attic: €400 from May 2019, €1,300 from Feb 2022, €1,500 from Feb 2026. Cavity wall: €400 from May 2019, €1,200 from Feb 2022, €1,300 from Feb 2026. The February 2022 rise was announced on 9 February; SEAI’s pages show it by the end of March, and the exact start date is not confirmed.
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 | Apr 2022 | Mar 2026 | Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat pump | €3,500 | €6,500 | €12,500 | €14,500 |
| External wall | €4,500 | €6,000 | €6,000 | €6,000 |
| Internal wall | €2,200 | €3,500 | €3,500 | €3,500 |
| Windows | — | — | €3,000 | €3,000 |
| Solar panels | €3,800 | €2,400 | €1,800 | €1,800 |
| Attic | €400 | €1,300 | €1,500 | €1,500 |
| Cavity wall | €400 | €1,200 | €1,300 | €1,300 |
Questions people ask
- How much is the heat pump grant in 2026?
- Up to €10,500 for the heat pump in a house, plus the €2,000 boiler scrappage grant when an oil or gas boiler, storage heaters or a solid fuel system come out, plus €2,000 for pipework — up to €14,500 in total for most houses and €11,500 for an apartment.
- Does my house need to be insulated first?
- Almost always. SEAI checks how well the house holds heat before they will fund a heat pump, and the attic and wall work is usually what gets you through.
- Will my electricity bill go up?
- Yes, and the oil or gas bill goes to zero. Heat from a heat pump costs about 9.8c a unit against 14.4c on gas and 18.0c on oil, so the total bill falls.
How we know
- Grants: SEAI's page for this grant, read 3 October 2026. Every condition is quoted word for word and checked against our saved copy.
- Prices: SEAI's median costs of individual upgrades, H1 2026: what contractors charged on grant-aided jobs. A median is a middle price, not a quote.
- Heat-loss shares: BER certificates for a sale or letting since mid-2022, file of 8 September 2026. A BER is a standard calculation, not a meter reading.
- Running costs: SEAI's fuel cost comparison of 1 July 2026.
- Payback: our model, re-run 5 October 2026 with the grant in force and the new electricity factor. A group of homes, not your house.
- History: SEAI's grant pages as the Internet Archive saved them, at every capture where the amount changed.
Sources
SEAI, Individual grants: Homeowner Application Guide, 10 Oct 2026 · SEAI, Median costs of individual energy upgrades, H1 2026 · SEAI, Domestic Fuel Cost Comparison, 1 Jul 2026
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 · BER file · prices SEAI H1 2026 · How we know · Corrections