The Green Deal home energy efficiency improvement initiative kicks off in earnest today! More details appear in these NHIC pages.
Announced by the government’s DECC, basically this is a long-term loan scheme designed to help reduce household energy bills. The cost of the loan, which could be around 7%, would be paid for by the cost saving in energy bills.
The loan is on the home and not on the bill-payer. Consequently if you sell-up and move your buyer will continue paying the loan through the gas or electricity bill.
Although Green Deal is a government scheme, it will be administered and operated by major providers such as Kingfisher, British Gas and so on.
An official independent assessor determines what improvement work needs to be carried out in the home – such as a new boiler, cavity wall and loft insulation installation, double glazing etc – and this will be carried out by an accredited improvement company. All must be authorised contractors through the DECC and carry on of these badges.
Ed Davey, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, say this is a great opportunity for millions of homeowners to make saving on their home energy bills.
Originally planned to launch last October, the success of Green Deal will, of course, depend on how widely the idea is publicised.
For instance only 21% of respondents had heard of Green Deal according last year’s important survey by the National Home Improvement Show. The research raised some serious questions especially around the government initiatives to roll out energy efficient products into private dwellings.
In fact, the survey concluded that the Green Deal initiative had yet to create awareness amongst the public.
Perhaps today’s announcement will help reverse this statistic?
One thing that the consumer watchdog Which advises is that homeowners who decide to go ahead with the loan and the home improvement work, should be careful who they sign up with?
More information: www.decc.gov.uk/greendeal/ and www.nhic.org.uk