Understanding energy metrics

IrelandInsights includes four energy metrics derived from SEAI and CSO data. This guide explains what each one means, where it comes from, and how to interpret it.

% rated E–G

The share of BER-assessed homes in a county with an E, F, or G rating. These are the least efficient homes in the stock — typically older, poorly insulated, and most in need of retrofit work. A higher percentage means more poor-performing homes in that county.

% rated A–B

The share of BER-assessed homes with an A or B rating. These homes meet modern energy efficiency standards. A higher percentage shows a greater share of recently built or retrofitted homes among the homes assessed.

Upgrades per 1,000 households

The number of SEAI-supported home energy upgrades completed in 2024, per 1,000 Census 2022 households. This shows the retrofit delivery rate — how actively a county is improving its housing stock relative to its size. Source: SEAI National Retrofit Plan Full Year Report 2024.

BER coverage %

BER certificates issued in the latest year as a share of Census 2022 households (permanent private households). This shows how much of the housing stock was assessed that year. The BER percentages (% E–G, % A–B) describe only the homes that received a certificate that year — they are not necessarily representative of all homes in the county.

Coverage and the certificate counts are shown as plain figures. They are not turned into a confidence rating: certificates issued in a year are not a random sample of homes, so there is no statistical basis for labelling a county's BER percentages "high" or "low" confidence.

BER assessments are required on sale, letting or new build, so each year's certificates cover only part of the housing stock; homes not assessed that year are not in the data.

Energy burden classification

Select a county while viewing an energy metric and the Rankings panel shows a quadrant classification. It is a relative ranking, not an absolute performance category: each county is placed in the top or bottom half of the 26 counties on need and on delivery, so counties near the middle can differ only marginally yet fall on opposite sides. Delivery uses SEAI upgrades completed in 2024 per 1,000 Census 2022 households (different years). Each county sits on two axes — retrofit need (% E–G rated) and retrofit delivery (upgrades per 1,000 households) — and falls into one of four groups:

Intervention priority — high retrofit need (top half of counties) and delivery in the bottom half. The gap between need and action is largest here.
Active response — high retrofit need and delivery in the top half. Need is high, but the county ranks well on upgrade activity.
Strong delivery — lower retrofit need (bottom half) and delivery in the top half. Relatively strong upgrade activity for its level of need.
Lower priority — lower retrofit need and lower delivery. Less urgent relative to other counties.

These classifications are relative — a county ranked as lower priority still has homes that need retrofitting. The classification shows where the gap between need and action is most pronounced across the 26 counties, not an absolute standard.

Explore energy data

Open the energy layer on the map to see BER ratings and retrofit rates across all 26 counties.

E–G ratings map → Retrofit rates map BER data analysis

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