€70 million for Energy Efficiency Fund can create 5,000 jobs – Fitzpatrick

Fine Gael TD for Louth, Peter Fitzpatrick, has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte TD, that the Cabinet has approved a €70 million investment to establish an Energy Efficiency Fund, which will provide project lending for energy efficiency works in the public and commercial sectors.

“I am delighted with the announcement by Minister Rabbitte about the establishment of an Energy Efficiency Fund to the value of €35 million by the Government, which will leverage a similar amount by the private sector. It is also envisaged that this investment will create 5,000 jobs in this sector, as well as generating €250 million in savings in energy bills in the public sector.

“The Energy Efficiency Fund will finance two main types of project, in the public and commercial sector. These are the Energy Performance Contracts, where funding is drawn down by an energy services company (ESCO) which is a commercial business that designs and implements energy savings for clients, and direct lending to client companies.
 
“Minister Rabbitte also said that he plans to bring proposals to Cabinet later this year for the residential sector to transition from a system where grants were paid out after the event to a new financing model called Pay As You Save (PAYS), where homeowners will be able to finance their home improvements from ongoing savings on their energy bills.

“I would like to thank Minister Rabbitte for his hard work in bringing this project to fruition and I look forward to working with him to deliver the PAYS model for private residential homeowners later this year.”

ENDS