SEAI energy audit vouchers: a practical start for controls upgrades

Evergreen Insight — Before ordering new equipment, it helps to understand where a building’s energy actually goes. SEAI’s Support Scheme for Energy Audits offers a €2,000 voucher towards a professional audit for eligible organisations. Its current guidance, checked on 12 November 2026, provides a useful starting point for Irish facilities teams reviewing lighting, controls and energy monitoring.

Check eligibility against the current scheme

SEAI lists an energy-consumption threshold of less than 10 TJ, approximately 2.8 GWh, with its definition referring to average annual consumption over the previous three years across heat, electricity and transport. Applicants must also be tax compliant, registered in the Republic of Ireland, spend at least €10,000 annually on energy excluding transport at the audited site, and be applying for their first voucher. Confirm the full conditions with SEAI before applying; the scheme cannot fund an obligated enterprise’s mandatory audit.

The voucher supports the audit, rather than paying for a lighting installation or other upgrade. SEAI directs applicants to choose a participating auditor from its register and confirm the audit cost before applying. No publication date is shown on the current scheme page, so this article is practical guidance rather than an announcement of a new grant.

Prepare information that makes the visit useful

Our practical recommendation is to assemble bills, available interval consumption data, operating hours and a simple list of major loads. For lighting, add fitting quantities, control zones, programmed schedules and any known overrides. Explain where occupancy has changed since commissioning: an old operating pattern can remain in the controls long after a floor has been reorganised.

Metering information becomes more useful when someone can connect it to an operational event. Record late working, cleaning periods, production changes and equipment left running. This helps the audit discussion move from a monthly total towards specific questions that can be investigated on site.

Turn recommendations into a measured plan

For each proposed improvement, ask what will change, who will implement it and how the result will be checked. A schedule adjustment, sensor correction and full luminaire replacement have different costs and disruption. They should be compared against the building’s actual requirements, with lighting quality and safe operation retained.

Avoid adding estimated savings from several measures without checking for overlap. If a lighting upgrade reduces the load first, a later scheduling change acts on that smaller load. A clear baseline and agreed measurement approach make the combined outcome easier to assess.

An audit is most valuable when its recommendations become assigned actions. Contact Scott Group to discuss lighting controls, occupancy sensing or monitoring measures identified in your building review. For voucher eligibility and the audit appointment itself, use SEAI’s current guidance and its participating auditor register.