EEOS for Housing Bodies and Local Authorities

How does EEOS work?

Under EEOS, large energy suppliers and distributors in Ireland are required to achieve annual energy efficiency targets. These large energy suppliers are called Obligated Parties.

One of the ways that Obligated Parties can meet their annual targets is by helping support energy efficiency upgrades for housing bodies and local authorities cross the country. Examples of eligible upgrades include improvement in insulation, heating, windows, ventilation and more.

How EEOS can help

Under EEOS, Obligated Parties form partnerships with local authorities and approved housing bodies to support projects that will make progress to their EEOS targets.

Obligated Parties are particularly interested in supporting projects that will contribute to their energy poverty EEOS targets. Local authority and approved housing body homes count towards this target in cases where energy efficiency improvements bring the home’s BER rating from a D2 or worse to a B2 or better.

For homes which already have a BER better than a D2, Obligated Parties may support homes to achieve an improvement in their BER (typically of 100 kWh/m2/year or more). This will count towards their residential EEOS targets.

Eligible upgrades

It is typically necessary to install a combination of measures that will improve a home’s BER. This is because multiple upgrades are more likely to meet the eligibility criteria for the residential and energy poverty targets under EEOS.

In some instances, it may be possible to meet the minimum criteria for the residential target with a single measure such as a heat pump or external wall insulation. However, this is uncommon and depends on the specific BER for that home.

Individual improvements

It's possible for Obligated Parties to support individual energy efficiency improvement measures in homes under their cross-sector target. However, as these do not count towards the residential or energy poverty targets, they are less common.

Individual energy efficiency improvement measures are most relevant in cases of in-fill where homes in an estate make progress towards core targets but a few homes only require an individual measure.

Please note: each obligated party will have their own approach and may not support any individual measures.

What kind of supports can Obligated Parties offer?

Obligated Party support can be technical and/or financial and should contribute to the realisation of the energy efficiency improvement project. Some examples of support include:

• a monetary amount per kWh
• quality assurance services
• tender evaluation support
• technical supports (such as property surveys, BERs, HLI assessment, thermal bridge assessment)
• project management/ coordinator services

All Obligated Parties have a different approach, so it is important to contact everyone, particularly if you are seeking a specific type of support.

Requirements of the scheme

There are some important things to note about EEOS before seeking support. This includes the following:

• Obligated Parties can only claim energy credits from the installation of an energy efficiency measure if they supported the installation and were involved before the measures were installed
• the scheme does not require Obligated Parties to support any specific project
• the maximum period for a project from pre to post BER is 6 years
• Obligated Parties and the SEAI will require access to a sample of homes to carry out QA checks
• EEOS targets are annual and need to be achieved by the end of each calendar year

Applying for support

Local authorities and approved housing bodies can apply for support to carry out energy upgrades from any Obligated Parties participating in the scheme. To receive support, you can either submit a request for support form or contact Obligated Parties directly.

Fill out the EEOS Request for Support Form

The EEOS Support Request form can be used to request Obligated Party support for your energy efficiency project.

To apply for support, please complete the form and return it to eeos@seai.ie. The request will be circulated to the Obligated Parties, and they will contact you directly if they are interested in supporting your project.

Download the form here.

Contacting OPs directly

Contacting OPs directly will give you a good idea of what projects they will cover. All companies have a different approach so we recommend that you contact all (or multiple) Obligated Parties directly to learn more about what kind of supports are available.

View the list of Obligated Parties.