Glossary

Grant terms, in plain words

The terms you meet on an SEAI grant application, each in a sentence or two.

BER (Building Energy Rating): A rating of a home's energy performance, from A1 (most efficient) to G (least). A BER assessor registered with SEAI carries it out, and it comes with an advisory report. See: Post-works BER
BER advisory report: The report that comes with a BER. It rates parts of the home, such as the roof and walls, shows the heat loss, and suggests upgrades.
HLI (Heat Loss Indicator): One number on the BER that sums up how much heat the home loses through its walls, roof, floor, windows and doors, and through draughts. Lower is better. The SEAI windows and doors grant needs an HLI of 2.3 or lower, or roof and walls already rated Good. See: windowgrants.ie eligibility
MPRN (Meter Point Reference Number): The 11-digit number on your electricity bill. SEAI uses it to identify the home, look up its BER and see which grants it has had before.
U-value: How fast heat passes through a wall, window or roof, in watts per square metre per degree (W/m²K). Lower is better. For the wall insulation grant, an insulated wall must reach 0.27 W/m²K. See: Bonded bead insulation
One Stop Shop: An SEAI-registered company that manages a home energy upgrade from start to finish, including the grant application. The grant comes off your price up front instead of being paid to you after.
Post-works BER: A BER done after the work, to record the result. SEAI requires one before it pays the wall insulation grant. See: The grant, step by step
SEAI-registered contractor: A contractor on SEAI's register for the type of work. SEAI only pays the grant when one does the job. You can check any contractor on SEAI's register before you agree to anything.
Bonded bead: Expanded polystyrene beads coated with a binder as they're blown into a cavity wall. The binder sets, so the beads stay in the wall if it's drilled later. See: Bonded bead insulation
Whole-surface solution: SEAI's rule that all external walls of the home must be fully insulated for the wall grant. Insulating one or two walls (partial insulation) isn't eligible.
Second wall measure: One more SEAI wall grant for a home that already had one: after cavity, internal or external; after internal, external only; after external, none. See: Second wall insulation grant
HAP and RAS: The Housing Assistance Payment and the Rental Accommodation Scheme. A home in an active HAP tenancy or RAS arrangement gets the higher cavity wall grant.

See your grant, then get a price

Four taps show the SEAI grant for your home. Or call 087 162 1846 between 8am and 8pm and we pass you to one SEAI-registered contractor who covers your area.

Check my grant Call 087 162 1846