BER ratings in Ireland — energy efficiency by county
Ireland's retrofit programme has run since 2011 and reached over 53,984 homes in 2024 alone. Energy-poor homes concentrate in rural Connacht and Ulster, where older, poorly insulated housing stock is common. The tables below show the current county-by-county picture.
National headline — BER 2025
Is retrofit reaching the right homes?
Retrofit uptake does not consistently concentrate in areas with the highest energy need. Demand-led schemes (Better Energy Homes, Solar PV) favour counties where households have higher disposable income to co-fund works.
The Warmer Homes scheme gives free upgrades to low-income households and partly corrects this skew. Switch between the E–G and retrofit rate layers on the map above to compare need and uptake county by county.
Counties with the highest share of E–G rated homes
Counties with the highest E–G share tend to be rural counties with a high concentration of older housing built before modern insulation standards. See the current ranking below.
| County | % E–G rated | A–B share |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Leitrim | 21.2% | 41.7% A–B |
| 2. Roscommon | 21.2% | 44.5% A–B |
| 3. Offaly | 18.5% | 46.9% A–B |
| 4. Donegal | 18.3% | 39.2% A–B |
| 5. Mayo | 16.9% | 43.2% A–B |
| 6. Cavan | 16.5% | 51.1% A–B |
| 7. Monaghan | 15.1% | 50.7% A–B |
| 8. Tipperary | 14.8% | 52.3% A–B |
| 9. Westmeath | 13.6% | 52.5% A–B |
| 10. Kerry | 13.5% | 51.9% A–B |
Counties with the highest share of A–B rated homes
High new-build activity since 2010 drives strong A–B share in fast-growing commuter counties: post-2015 construction must meet Part L energy standards. See the current ranking below.
| County | % A–B rated |
|---|---|
| 1. Laois | 66.8% |
| 2. Meath | 65.7% |
| 3. Kildare | 64.2% |
| 4. Louth | 62% |
| 5. Cork | 58.9% |
| 6. Longford | 58.8% |
| 7. Kilkenny | 57.9% |
| 8. Wicklow | 57.6% |
| 9. Waterford | 54.6% |
| 10. Clare | 54.2% |
SEAI retrofit uptake by county — 2024
This table counts SEAI-supported residential upgrades completed in 2024 across all schemes — Better Energy Homes, Warmer Homes, Solar PV, and the National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme. The rate uses Census 2022 household counts per 1,000 households, so small counties are not penalised by raw volume.
| County | Upgrades per 1,000 households |
|---|---|
| 1. Wexford | 39.6/1,000 |
| 2. Galway | 38.1/1,000 |
| 3. Meath | 37.1/1,000 |
| 4. Mayo | 36.8/1,000 |
| 5. Sligo | 36.8/1,000 |
| 6. Roscommon | 36.2/1,000 |
| 7. Tipperary | 35.4/1,000 |
| 8. Wicklow | 34.9/1,000 |
| 9. Carlow | 34.7/1,000 |
| 10. Kerry | 34.5/1,000 |
Why do western counties have more energy-poor homes?
The high E–G share in Connacht and Ulster comes down to age and construction type. Much of the rural western stock went up between 1940 and 1980 using cavity or single-skin masonry with little or no insulation — the standard of the period. These homes cost more to retrofit than newer builds and take more work to upgrade structurally.
Income plays a role too. Lower-income counties tend to have more energy-poor housing partly because older rural stock concentrates there. Higher-income households also assess and retrofit more often — which skews the certified sample toward more efficient ratings.
What is a BER certificate?
A Building Energy Rating (BER) certificate measures a home's energy performance. A SEAI-registered assessor issues it and rates the home from A1 (most efficient, lowest energy cost) to G (least efficient, highest energy cost). Irish law requires a BER certificate when selling or renting a property.
- A1–B3 (efficient): well-insulated, modern heating systems, often new-build or recently retrofitted. Annual energy costs typically below €900.
- C1–D2 (average): partial insulation, older heating. Most Irish homes assessed to date fall in this range. Energy costs €1,200–€2,500/year.
- E–G (energy-poor): poor insulation, oil or solid fuel heating, pre-1980 construction dominant. Annual energy costs can exceed €3,500. SEAI retrofit schemes target these homes first.
BER data — coverage and limitations
- Assessed homes only: certificates issued in 2025 equal about 8.7% of Irish households. The BER percentages describe those homes, not necessarily all homes, so they should not be read as the national or county housing-stock position.
- Dublin: Dublin's certificates (including its 22 postal districts) equal about 9.4% of its households — above the national 8.7%. Dublin's BER figures reflect homes assessed on sale, letting or new build in 2025, not its full housing stock.
- Certificate date, not construction date: a home certified after a retrofit gets its post-upgrade rating. The BER data shows the current state of the homes assessed in the year, not the original construction quality.
- Annual update: CSO publishes updated BER counts quarterly. IrelandInsights refreshes from CSO EBA02 at server startup and caches the result.
Switch between the E–G and retrofit rate layers on the map above to compare energy need and retrofit investment, county by county. If the Warmer Homes scheme scales to meet its targets, the gap should narrow over time.
Explore BER and retrofit data on the map
Switch between E–G share, A–B share, and retrofit rate per 1,000 households to see where the efficiency gap is largest — and where upgrade activity is highest.
Explore BER data by county
Each county profile shows BER band distribution, retrofit uptake, vacancy rates, tenure, and market prices.
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Retrofit data: SEAI National Retrofit Plan Full Year Report 2024 · seai.ie/retrofit
Denominator: CSO Census 2022 household counts
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