The number of Building Energy Ratings (BER) audits performed in certain months have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. For further information please see the SEAI website.
Electricity was the main space heating fuel used in 84% of the dwellings with a Building Energy Rating (BER) audit and where construction was completed during 2020-2022. (see Table 9)
The number of audits reported between July and September (Q3) 2022 was the highest in the 2009-2022 series and was 49% more than Q3 2021. (see Table 1)
Dwellings built in 2015-2019 and in 2020-2022 were considerably more energy efficient than those built in earlier periods with 96% and 99% respectively given an A rating. (see Table 2)
Kildare (21%), Dublin County (20%), and Meath (20%) had the highest proportion of A ratings while Leitrim had the lowest at 2%. (see Table 4)
Looking at Dublin postal districts, Dublin 13 (25%) and Dublin 18 (24%) had the highest proportion of A ratings while Dublin 6 had the highest proportion of G ratings at 15%. (see Table 5)
| Table A: Main Space Heating Fuel by Period of Construction (2000-2022) | ||||
| % of row | number | |||
| Period of Construction | Mains Gas | Heating Oil | Electricity | BER audits |
| 2000-2004 | 41 | 36 | 19 | 177,467 |
| 2005-2009 | 45 | 31 | 18 | 163,832 |
| 2010-2014 | 48 | 31 | 18 | 12,189 |
| 2015-2019 | 46 | 5 | 48 | 53,112 |
| 2020-2022 | 15 | 0 | 84 | 34,046 |
| Mains Gas | Heating Oil | Electricity | |
| 2000-2004 | 41 | 36 | 19 |
| 2005-2009 | 45 | 31 | 18 |
| 2010-2014 | 48 | 31 | 18 |
| 2015-2019 | 46 | 5 | 48 |
| 2020-2022 | 15 | 0 | 84 |
| Earliest | Latest | |
| A | 0 | 4 |
| B1 | 1 | 3 |
| B2 | 2 | 7 |
| B3 | 5 | 14 |
| C1 | 9 | 16 |
| C2 | 11 | 15 |
| C3 | 12 | 12 |
| D1 | 13 | 10 |
| D2 | 13 | 8 |
| E1 | 9 | 4 |
| E2 | 7 | 3 |
| F | 8 | 2 |
| G | 10 | 2 |
| National Data | BER Database | |
| A | 7 | 10 |
| B1 | 2 | 2 |
| B2 | 3 | 3 |
| B3 | 7 | 8 |
| C1 | 10 | 11 |
| C2 | 12 | 12 |
| C3 | 12 | 12 |
| D1 | 12 | 11 |
| D2 | 11 | 10 |
| E1 | 6 | 6 |
| E2 | 5 | 4 |
| F | 5 | 5 |
| G | 8 | 7 |
1Dwellings with BERs have been weighted using 2016 Census of Population data to estimate a BER profile for All Dwellings at National level (see Background Notes).
| A | B | C | D | E | F-G | |
| 1700-1977 | 1 | 6 | 19 | 24 | 19 | 31 |
| 1978-1999 | 1 | 8 | 42 | 33 | 11 | 5 |
| 2000-2004 | 1 | 13 | 60 | 20 | 5 | 2 |
| 2005-2009 | 2 | 37 | 50 | 9 | 2 | 1 |
| 2010-2014 | 33 | 58 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015-2019 | 96 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020-2022 | 99 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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Statistician's Comment
Commenting on the release Dympna Corry, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division, said: "Electricity was the main space heating fuel used in 84% of dwellings where construction was completed between 2020-2022 and with a Building Energy Rating (BER) audit. This was a substantial increase from buildings constructed during 2015-2019 when 48% of dwellings with a BER audit used electricity. There was a contrasting trend for mains gas, with 15% of dwellings built between 2020-2022 using mains gas as their main space heating fuel compared with 46% of dwellings built between 2015-2019. Looking at heating oil as the main space heating fuel, 0% of dwellings built between 2020-2022 used heating oil compared with 5% of dwellings built between 2015-2019.
There were 34,368 BER audits reported in Q3 2022 compared with 23,027 in Q3 2021. The number of BER audits completed in July 2022 was 33% higher than July 2021, while August 2022 rates were 67% greater than August 2021. Audit number also increased by 51% in September 2022 compared with September 2021. In the period 2009 to September 2022 1.2 million BER audits were undertaken.
Dwellings built between 2020-2022 and 2015-2019 were considerably more energy efficient than those constructed before then. A ratings were given to 99% of dwellings built between 2020-2022 and 96% of those built between 2015-2019. This compares with 33% of dwellings built between 2010-2014 which were given an A rating, and just 2% of properties constructed between 2005-2009.
Kildare (21%), Dublin County (20%), and Meath (20%) had the highest proportion of A ratings. Leitrim had the lowest proportion of A ratings at 2%.
Looking specifically at Dublin postal districts, Dublin 13 (25%), Dublin 18 (24%) and Dublin 15 (18%) had the highest proportion of A ratings. Dwellings in Dublin 6 (15%) and Dublin 7 (14%) had the highest proportion of G ratings.
The average floor area of all dwellings with a BER audit was 114 square metres. This average size varied from 161 square metres for detached houses to 60 square metres for basement dwellings.
Some dwellings have had more than one energy audit conducted. Only 8% of such dwellings received an A or B rating in their earliest assessment, whereas 28% of them received an A or B rating in their most recent assessment. In contrast, 18% of dwellings were rated F or G in their first BER assessment compared with only 4% in their latest BER assessment.
The national level data weighted using Census of Population 2016 figures shows that 5% of dwellings in Ireland would have received an F rating compared with 5% of dwellings that have had a BER assessment. Similarly, 8% of dwellings would have received a G rating compared with 7% of dwellings in the actual BER data. In contrast, 7% of dwellings would have received an A rating at the national level, whereas 10% of dwellings that have had a BER assessment were given an A rating.
Figures 2 and 3 show the proportions of the different energy ratings by county for dwellings built before 2005 (Figure 2) and in 2005 or later (Figure 3). The maps show the huge improvement in energy efficiency ratings that have occurred across Ireland since 2005."