The number of Building Energy Rating (BER) audits reported between July and September 2023 (Q3) was 17% higher than Q3 of 2022 (See Table 1).
Dwellings constructed between 2015-2019 and 2020-2023 had a higher proportion of A ratings compared with earlier periods, with rates of 95% and 99% respectively (See Table 2).
The highest proportion of A ratings were in counties Kildare (25%), Meath (22%), and Dublin County (22%), while the lowest was in Leitrim (3%) (See Table 4).
Among Dublin postal districts, the highest proportions of A rated dwellings were in Dublin 18 (34%) and Dublin 13 (26%), while the highest proportion of G ratings were in Dublin 6 (14%) (See Table 5).
Electricity was the main space heating fuel for 89% of audited dwellings where construction was completed from January 2020 to September 2023 (See Table 9).
| Table A: Main Space Heating Fuel by Period of Construction (2000-2023) | ||||
| % of row | number | |||
| Period of Construction | Mains Gas | Heating Oil | Electricity | BER audits |
| 2000-2004 | 40% | 36% | 19% | 186,714 |
| 2005-2009 | 44% | 32% | 19% | 173,048 |
| 2010-2014 | 45% | 32% | 19% | 12,998 |
| 2015-2019 | 45% | 5% | 49% | 54,534 |
| 2020-2023 | 11% | 0% | 89% | 60,165 |
| Mains Gas | Heating Oil | Electricity | |
| 2000-2004 | 40 | 36 | 19 |
| 2005-2009 | 44 | 32 | 19 |
| 2010-2014 | 45 | 32 | 19 |
| 2015-2019 | 45 | 5 | 49 |
| 2020-2023 | 11 | 0 | 89 |
| Earliest | Latest | |
| A | 1 | 7 |
| B1 | 1 | 4 |
| B2 | 3 | 8 |
| B3 | 6 | 15 |
| C1 | 9 | 15 |
| C2 | 11 | 14 |
| C3 | 12 | 11 |
| D1 | 13 | 9 |
| D2 | 12 | 7 |
| E1 | 8 | 4 |
| E2 | 7 | 2 |
| F | 8 | 2 |
| G | 9 | 2 |
| National Data | BER Database | |
| A | 9 | 13 |
| B1 | 2 | 2 |
| B2 | 4 | 4 |
| B3 | 7 | 8 |
| C1 | 10 | 11 |
| C2 | 11 | 12 |
| C3 | 11 | 11 |
| D1 | 11 | 11 |
| D2 | 10 | 9 |
| E1 | 6 | 5 |
| E2 | 5 | 4 |
| F | 5 | 4 |
| G | 8 | 6 |
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 | 2 | 7 | 20 | 23 | 19 | 30 |
| 1978-1999 | 1 | 10 | 42 | 32 | 10 | 5 |
| 2000-2004 | 1 | 15 | 59 | 19 | 5 | 1 |
| 2005-2009 | 3 | 38 | 48 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| 2010-2014 | 34 | 57 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015-2019 | 95 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020-2023 | 99 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (17 October 2023) released Domestic Building Energy Ratings for Quarter 3 (Q3) 2023.
Commenting on the release Kevin Hunt, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division, said: "There were 39,400 Building Energy Rating (BER) audits reported in Q3 2023 compared with 33,810 in Q3 2022, an increase of 17%. The number of BER audits completed in July 2023 was 21% higher than July 2022. August 2023 numbers were 17% greater than August 2022. The number of BER audits increased by 12% in September 2023 compared with September 2022. During the period of January 2009 to September 2023, 1.38 million BER audits were undertaken (See Table 1).
Period of Construction
Dwellings built between 2020-2023 and 2015-2019 were more energy efficient than those constructed before then. A ratings were given to 99% of dwellings built between 2020-2023 and 95% of those built between 2015-2019. By contrast, 34% of dwellings built between 2010-2014 were given an A rating, and just 3% of properties constructed between 2005-2009 (See Table 2).
Local Area Analysis
At a county level, the highest proportion of A rated dwellings were seen in Kildare (25%), Meath (22%) and Dublin County (22%). The lowest proportion of A ratings was in Leitrim, at 3% (See Table 4).
Among cities, Cork City had the lowest proportion of A rated dwellings (4%), compared with Limerick City (6%), Galway City (9%), Waterford City (9%) and Dublin 01-24 (14%). Cork City also had a higher proportion of G rated dwellings (7%) compared with Limerick City (5%), Galway City (3%), Waterford City (5%) and Dublin 01-24 (5%) (See Table 4).
Among Dublin postal districts, the highest proportions of A rated dwellings were in Dublin 18 (34%), Dublin 13 (26%) and Dublin 20 (21%). The highest proportions of G ratings were seen in Dublin 6 (14%), Dublin 7 (13%) and Dublin 3 (12%). Dublin 18 had the lowest average building age in the city, at 15 years, while Dublin 6 had the oldest, at 61 years (See Table 5).
Main Space Heating Fuel
Electricity was the main space heating fuel used in 89% of audited dwellings which completed construction between January 2020 and September 2023. This represented an increase from buildings constructed during 2015-2019, where 49% of dwellings with a BER audit used electricity. For mains gas, conversely, 11% of dwellings built between 2020-2023 used it as their main space heating fuel, compared with 45% of dwellings built between 2015-2019. Heating oil was the main space heating fuel for 0% of dwellings built between 2020-2023 compared with 5% of dwellings built between 2015-2019 (See Table 9).
Floor Area
The average floor area of all dwellings with a BER audit was 115 square metres. This average size varied from 164 square metres for detached houses to 60 square metres for basement dwellings (See Table 12).
Multiple Audits
Some dwellings have had more than one energy audit conducted. Some 11% of these received an A or B rating in their earliest assessment, whereas 34% of them received an A or B rating in their most recent assessment. Conversely, 17% of dwellings were rated F or G for their first assessment, compared with only 4% in their latest revision (See Table 15)."