Grant · Heating controls · SEAI rules read 7 Sep 2026
Heating controls grant: €700, 23% of a typical semi-detached job
SEAI pays €700 toward heating controls on a semi-detached house (SEAI, read 7 September 2026). SEAI's median price for that job in the first half of 2026 was €3,000, so the grant covers 23%. It is the same for every type of home. The grant has to be approved before any work starts.
A wall thermostat: the kind of control the grant pays toward, with zones and timers.
Overview of Netatmo Thermostat in Michle, Prague · Jiří Sedláček · CC BY-SA 4.0
See your grants for heating controls, and what you’d pay
About 10 seconds. See your numbers first, then get quotes if you want them.
€700
SEAI's grant for a semi-detached house
SEAI grant page · read 7 Sep 2026
SEAI rule€3,000
SEAI's median price for a semi-detached job
SEAI median costs · H1 2026
Published figure23%
How much of that the grant covers
€700 ÷ €3,000
Published figure675
Companies on SEAI's register for heating controls
SEAI contractor register · 25 Sep 2026
Published figureUpdated · grants checked · prices SEAI H1 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 hereHeating controls grant
- Next questionCan you get the controls grant with a heat pump?
Is there a grant for heating controls? Yes: €700, the same for every type of home
SEAI's grant against SEAI's median price for the job, the first half of 2026. SEAI rule
The heating controls grant covers 23% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-terrace | €2,374 | €700 | 30% | €1,674 |
| Semi-detached | €3,000 | €700 | 23% | €2,300 |
| Detached | €3,700 | €700 | 19% | €3,000 |
| Apartment | €1,745 | €700 | 40% | €1,045 |
SEAI grants, read 7 Sep 2026 · SEAI median costs H1 2026
It is not paid alongside or after a heat pump grant: a heat pump comes with its own controls. It is the cheapest job on the list and it changes how the house feels straight away. It does not need a home energy assessment when taken on its own.
Four 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 2011. SEAI rule
“before 2011 for the Insulation, windows and doors, or heating control grants,”
SEAI, Individual grants: Homeowner Application Guide, read 10 Oct 2026
The home has not had an SEAI grant for the same job before. SEAI rule
“Your home has not previously received SEAI grant support for the chosen home energy upgrade measure.”
SEAI, Individual grants: Homeowner Application Guide, read 10 Oct 2026
The work is done by an SEAI-registered contractor. SEAI rule
“You must select a SEAI Registered contractor”
SEAI, Individual grants: Homeowner Application Guide, 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
Approval takes minutes. Payment takes 4–6 weeks
Every SEAI grant runs the same six steps, and nothing starts before the offer. 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: apply.
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 same €700 as in 2019
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 heating controls grant is €700, as it was in Jun 2019
SEAI’s grant for heating controls was €700 in Jun 2019 and is €700 on 5 Oct 2026. Most other grants rose in that time.
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 heating controls grant?
- €700, the same for every home type.
- What counts as a controls upgrade?
- Splitting the house into zones — usually upstairs, downstairs and hot water — each with its own timer and thermostat.
- Is it worth doing on its own?
- Often yes. It is the cheapest thing on the list and it stops you heating rooms nobody is in.
How we know
- Grants: SEAI's page for this grant, read 7 September 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.
- 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
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