UK’s Green Deal Home Improvement Fund issues £8.5m during scheme’s first two weeks

A total of GBP8.5m has been issued to British householders making energy efficient improvements to their homes, during the first two weeks of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund scheme, the UK government’s Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) revealed on Friday.

According to industry estimates, the amount issued in funding from the new initiative represents a surge of GBP6m from the first week, during which GBP2.6m was issued to households in England and Wales that are carrying out energy efficient home improvements from an approved list.

The DECC said a total of 2821 applications have been made for the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund, under which domestic energy customers can get up to GBP1000 for installing two measures from an approved list and/or up to GBP6000 for installing solid wall insulation, as well as up to £100 refunded for their Green Deal Assessment.

In addition, householders who have bought a property in the 12 months prior to application are eligible to qualify for up to an additional GBP500 if they carry out energy efficiency improvements.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey commented:

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New Green Deal is very generous, says energy secretary

The second round of the government's Green Deal energy saving programme for homeowners opens on Monday.

The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund offers cashbacks and incentives on such things as double-glazing, insulation and boilers.

The first round was criticised for being complicated and low on take-up.

But Energy Secretary Ed Davey told the BBC that "we have learned from what people were telling us", adding that round two was "very generous".

Some £120m has been set aside for the revamped programme, with money being issued on "a first come first served" basis, Mr Davey said.

Depending on the energy-saving project carried out, some money is available only to those who claim within 12 months of moving into their property.

Other benefits are offered irrespective of when they moved in.

If people meet all the conditions, households in England and Wales will be able to get up to £7,600 back, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said in a statement.

The first Green Deal was launched last year in a blaze of publicity, and hailed as one of the biggest home improvement programmes for decades. But just 1,754 signed for phase one.

Mr Davey said a key difference with the new phase was that "these are grants, not loans, and are very generous... We are trying to do everything we can to help people with their energy bills."

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Green Deal cash-back scheme expands

There is now:

Up to £4,000 available for solid wall insulation, up from £650
Up to £1,000 for anyone needing ‘room in roof’ insulation, increased from £220
Up to £650 for households installing double glazing, up from £320.
“Inefficient homes use a lot more energy than they need to, which consumers pay a high price for,” said Energy & Climate Change Minister Greg Barker. “The extension and increase to Green Deal cash-back means more families will be helped to have warmer, more energy-efficient homes and lower energy bills by next winter. These changes also create more opportunities for the growing number of authorised Green Deal companies.”

After just 626 households sign up to the floundering Green Deal in its first year, the industry has called for the government to act now to save the flagship energy efficiency scheme

Numbers of households signing up to the scheme in the past month have dropped by a fifth, causing the industry to call on the government to ‘wake-up’ to problems with the scheme.

Chief executive of the UK Green Building Council, Paul King, said: ‘This latest set of figures, coming a year since the policy launched, should come as a wake-up call to government that the Green Deal is not delivering in its current form.
‘As a financial package, the Green Deal just doesn’t stack up. There are many attractive high street alternatives out there, with loans and credit cards generally available at more competitive rates to fund both the lower and higher value types of eligible energy-efficiency project. Other government incentives such as the recently announced reduction in stamp duty for those taking up the Green Deal are also not inclusive. The pot of money is too small and, worse still, this incentive will only apply to people who are buying or selling their home.’

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