# SEAI grants: what you can and cannot claim

> Which home energy grants exist, what they pay, and why you need written approval before anyone lifts a spanner.

Canonical page: https://radiantheatingandplumbing.com/blog/seai-grants-explained-bray


Published: 2026-04-02


The grant landscape is genuinely useful, but it is also widely misrepresented. Here is the honest version.

## Approval comes first, always

Every SEAI and council grant is approval-first. If the work is carried out before written approval issues, the application is refused. There is no retrospective route. This single rule causes more lost grant money than any eligibility criterion.

## What is covered

Attic, cavity, internal and external wall insulation. Windows and external doors. Heating controls. Solar PV and solar thermal. Heat pumps, with a technical assessment beforehand. Plus fully funded upgrades under Warmer Homes for qualifying households, and three means-tested council grants for older people and people with a disability.

## What is not covered

Replacing a gas or oil boiler with another fossil-fuel boiler. No scheme funds that, regardless of how a quote is worded.

## Build year rules differ

Most individual grants require a home built and occupied before 2011. The heat pump system grant uses 2021. The council grants have no build-year rule at all — they are means-tested instead.

## Next step

Use our grant checker to see which schemes fit your property, then confirm figures on the official SEAI or council page before you commit to any work.


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Radiant Heating & Plumbing — RGI registered gas installer and plumber.
175 Charnwood, Bray, Co. Wicklow · 087 212 0814 · Gerard@radiantheatingandplumbing.com
Covering Bray, Greystones, Delgany, Kilcoole, Shankill, Enniskerry, Dún Laoghaire, Stillorgan, Killiney, Dalkey, Cabinteely, Newtownmountkennedy, North Wicklow, South Dublin.