EPS Group help upgrade over 30 employee homes with new scheme

A FAMILY run business which has gathered up numerous environmental awards is now the first in the country to implement incentives for their employees to make their own homes more energy efficient.

The EPS Group, based in Mallow and which specialises in water and waste water treatment systems, recently established a home salary incentive in collaboration with Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).

This was achieved by making energy upgrades more affordable and accessible via the provision of free home energy audits and advice coupled with interest free loans and grant subsidies.

While this is a pilot scheme, the EPS Group co-ordinated energy audits in their employees homes to identify possible energy upgrades such as insulation, boilers, controls and heating systems, as well as windows and doors and solar panels.

Through this pilot scheme, EPS employees received works to a value of over €200,000 and on average, each employee who participated received approximately €6,000 worth of energy upgrades – of which up to 50% was funded through various subsidies.

To finance the cost of the upgrades, EPS group provided a tax and interest-free loan to its employees.

The EPS Group pilot scheme involved 94 home surveys, 32 upgraded homes, 26 insulation measure upgrades, 24 boilers and heating control upgrades and six solar installations.

The EPS, energy manager, Declan O’Riordan said the scheme could be compared to the Bike to Work scheme, whereby the employer provides the employee with an interest-free loan to purchase the product and service.

“However, the scheme goes further by creating long-term cost savings for homeowners while increasing the value of their property,” he said.

He also said that an added benefit is that every participant received a BER rating along with oil monitors to measure and verify the savings achieved.

“As a result of the success we achieved having completed this pilot programme a number of companies throughout Ireland are now in the process of implementing a similar schemes,” he said.

Enprova, which provides energy efficiency services on behalf of the Irish Petroleum Industry Association, helped assist the pilot programme.

Audrey Browne, an employee at EPS availed of the scheme. She said: “I can’t praise the Home Salary Incentive Scheme enough. Our home, although only 16 years old, was not energy sufficient and wasn’t meeting the changing needs of my family.”

She said through the scheme, they were able to afford the necessary upgrades and changes at the same time to make the maximum impact.

“Since we had the work done, our home is warm all the time and never gets as could as it used to due to the insulation. When we do have to turn on the heating, we don’t have to run it very long as the new boiler we had installed is far more efficient and our rooms heat up quicker. If it wasn’t for this scheme, we would never have been able to afford the option of solar panels. We now have endless supply of hot water - pretty handy with two teenage girls,” she said.

Gareth Reynolds also received energy upgrades to his home.

“Since having both the attic insulation and cavity wall insulation upgraded at our home, we have found a huge difference in the temperature inside the house,” he said.

Mr Reynolds said: It’s much more comfortable than before and we are looking forward to seeing a reduction in heating costs over the coming winters.”