Individual energy upgrade grants

One job at a time, in your own time

This is the route most people take. You pick an upgrade, find a contractor from SEAI's registered list, apply, get approval, get the work done, and SEAI pays you the grant afterwards.

You pay the bill first. The grant lands in your account when the job is finished and the paperwork is in. Some registered contractors will invoice you for the amount after the grant instead and take SEAI's payment themselves, but that is their choice, not your right — ask before you sign.

What each upgrade is worth

Amounts run from apartment to detached house. Last checked 2026-09-07.

Upgrade	Grant
Attic insulation	€1,100 to €2,000
Cavity wall insulation	€700 to €1,800
Internal wall insulation	€1,500 to €4,500
External wall insulation	€3,000 to €8,000
All new windows	€1,500 to €4,000
External doors	€800 each, two at most
Heat pump	€4,500 to €6,500 for the unit
Pipes and radiators for the heat pump	€1,000 to €2,000
Bonus for dropping oil, gas or coal	€4,000
Air-to-air heat pump	€7,500
Heating controls	€700
Solar panels for electricity	up to €1,800
Solar hot water	€1,200

The heat pump line is the one worth reading twice. The unit grant, the pipework grant and the bonus for leaving a fossil fuel behind are three separate grants that stack on the same job, which is why a heat pump can carry more grant than everything else put together.

SEAI increased the heat pump package to a maximum of €12,500 (€9,500 apartments) on 3 February 2026 and raised cavity wall amounts the same day. Replacement heat pumps get the unit grant only — no bonus, no central heating grant. Air-to-air totals €7,500 with the bonus. Source: seai.ie heat pump systems page, read 2026-09-08.

The rules that catch people out

Age of the home. Insulation, windows, doors and heating controls need a home built and lived in before 2011. Heat pumps, solar panels and solar hot water need one built and lived in before 2021.

Approval first, always. Work that starts before your grant offer is issued is not eligible, and money spent before that date can sink the whole claim.

A new rating at the end. Every grant needs a new energy rating done afterwards by a registered assessor, before SEAI will pay. You arrange it and you pay for it; SEAI put €50 toward it on your first application only.

Once per measure, mostly. A measure already grant-aided at your address cannot be claimed again. Walls are the exception: cavity can be followed by internal or external insulation later, and internal can be followed by external — but never the other way round.

Pre-1940 and stone-built homes are not eligible for the individual wall insulation grant at all.

Two clocks, and the one grant that really does expire

Once SEAI issue your grant offer, you have 30 days to accept it. Miss that and you apply again from the start.

After you accept, you have eight months to get the work done and claim. If the contractor runs late, SEAI's own guidance says to send the paperwork in anyway with a covering letter explaining the delay, and they will still consider it. There is no penalty for not starting at all — you can cancel and reapply.

Solar panels are the exception and they are strict: after eight months the grant expires and will not be paid. Solar has its own extra step too, because the connection has to be registered with ESB Networks, which SEAI say takes at least four weeks.

Grant amounts are locked in on the day you apply. If you cancel and reapply later, you get whatever is on offer then — better or worse.

Payment takes about four to six weeks after complete paperwork reaches SEAI. Jobs picked for inspection stay on hold until the inspection is done.