GREENLOAN GHES SCHEME

BACKGROUND

The GHES scheme is an industry driven initiative which is supported by SEI (Sustainable Energy Ireland). This scheme was developed as a result of feedback from homeowners who had been through the process of applying for grants and carrying out improvements on their home. In general homeowners found the process confusing and difficult. Nearly all of the homeowners surveyed found the grant application process confusing due to the number of bodies / schemes which are currently administrating grants. Homeowners were also confused as to their eligibility for certain grants and in most cases lost out on potential grant aid. The second problem encountered was with regard to the pricing and the quality of the products installed. Invariably homeowners were confused by the amount of information in the marketplace and were unsure of what product or system to install. As a result homeowners generally ended up getting poor value for money.

As a result of this feedback industry leaders felt that the whole process needed to be simplified in order to help homeowners to avail of the grants while putting a quality assurance system in place, which ensured value for money. A pilot GHES scheme was run in Mayo in 2008, with great success, this led to the GHES scheme being launched nationwide earlier this year.

HOW IT WORKS

The scheme operates on a cluster / group basis which are run by cluster leaders, this person is generally a BER (Building Energy Rating) Assessor i.e. VER (Value Energy Ratings - North Cork Cluster). The cluster leader and homeowner are supported by the GHES administration and technical team. The administration team will process the grant applications and refer approved installers to the client to carry out the improvement works. The homeowner can call on the technical support team for advice on the works being carried out at any time. All the products used are fully certified and in most part they are manufactured in Ireland. Please read the documents attached for step by step breakdown of the process and the grant amounts available.

The structure of the scheme is as follows

1)       Clusters are created by BER assessors within their locality

2)       Maximum number in a cluster is 200

3)       Cluster leaders take responsibility for marketing the cluster and providing BER Certs

4)       Greenloan takes care of administrating the scheme and providing technical support

5)                               Finance is optional and can be provided by Credit Unions

Call  029 - 60062 for further information

BENEFITS

The scheme offers the following advantages

1)       Up to 40% savings – achieved by group purchasing within clusters

2)       High quality products – only certified products and installers allowed access to the scheme

3)       All SEI grants can be availed of through one central admin team

4)       Mandatory retrofit training

5)       Mandatory BER (Building Energy Rating)

6)       Supports Irish Industry and jobs

7)       Quality assurance scheme

8)       Finance which can be provided by Credit Unions

9)       The homeowner only has to commit to paying the BER assessor and they will be presented with all their options before having to make a decision.

Call  029 - 60062 for further information