Worries about BER and SEI

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Some Worries I Have
About BER Assessors and SEI Fees

BER (Building Energy Rating) is now regulatory in Ireland. New houses have to have a BER rating. If you want to get any grants for insulation or for sustainable energy installations, you need a BER assessment.

So far so good you might say, and indeed it would be correct to say so. But now we come to the part where we bite into the apple and find the maggots, inasmuch as there are several glaring problems with the system that SEI (Sustainable Energy Ireland) has dumped on the Irish public.

Problems.

1. Same building – differing assessments - several differing assessments from different assessors - can they all be right????.
2. Same building - very different fees for assessment - gee I wonder why??????.
3. If the cops were paid 10 Euro for every speeding fine given – would you think there might be an increase in speeding fines? Or take our universities when condidering courses and charges - when does the focus drift towards making money?? So when you tie an official rating systems to a money-making exercise – in what way do you think the outcome might be weighted?
4. When the certification of BER assessors makes money for the initiating organisation (SEI) – would you think that might affect the number of assessors being put out to graze - or indeed influence how the various fees and charges are made?


Here are a listing of the fairly substantial fees charged by SEI:

SEI Schedule of Fees under the
Building Energy Rating (BER) Scheme

Registration for Domestic BER Assessors by SEI
Employer Registration (including 1st Employee Assessor): €1,000 (plus VAT)
2nd and subsequent Employee Assessors1: €500 (plus VAT)
Self-Employed Assessor Registration: €1,000 (plus VAT)
Annual Renewals (Employee & Self-Employed Assessors): €100 (plus VAT)

Publication of Domestic BER Certificates by SEI
Fee for publication of a Domestic BER Certificate: €25 (plus VAT)

Registration for Interim Non-Domestic BER Assessors by SEI
Registration of an Interim Non-Domestic BER Assessor: €100 (plus VAT)
Annual Renewals (Employee & Self-Employed Assessors): €100 (plus VAT)

Publication of Non-Domestic BER Certificates by SEI
Fee for publication of a Non-Domestic BER Certificate: €50 (plus VAT)

Ad Hoc Fees
Fee for Direct Debit Representation (following failure to clear) €20
Fees are subject to review by SEI. All fees incurred during a month are invoiced at month end. Payment is then collected by direct debit on the 20th day of the following month e.g. fees incurred during February are invoiced at the end of February and collected on the 20th of March.

Footnote.
Nice money if you can make it!! - and when you are a monopoly and have the law on your side - it makes for some problems of priorities -does it not??

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