Green Deal is a failure, says industry
Published: 20 July, 2016
“We warned the government repeatedly that the Green Deal was fundamentally flawed,” said the Energy and Utilities Alliance’s (EUA) head of external affairs, Isaac Occhipinti, following the publication of the Household Energy Efficiency Schemes inquiry by the Public Accounts Committee.
Mr Occhipinti said that the government are aware of opinions that Green Deal was flawed. Together with members, the EUA met with officials on numerous occasions to try to make changes that would make the scheme more robust and better value for the end user, but government apparently did not listen.
The EUA reports that there are still over 12 million inefficient boilers fitted in UK homes, with almost 80% of homes not having even the most basic controls. The UK’s aging housing stock remains one of the worst in Europe and Mr Occhipinti believes that, if we are to support ‘hard working families’ while achieving our carbon emission targets, then a new mechanism needs to be developed.
On 20 July, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee highlighted failures with the design and implementation of household energy efficiency schemes, namely the Green Deal and the complementary Energy Company Obligation.
Rich Twinn, policy advisor at the UK Green Building Council, said: “The Public Accounts Committee report makes clear that implementation of the Green Deal was woefully inadequate. The wildly optimistic forecasts about take up were never realistic, and this point was made strongly by many in the industry at the time.
“Most of all the Green Deal simply didn’t appeal to many of the householders it was trying to attract. The interest rate was unappealing and there was – and still is – a fundamental lack of demand for energy efficiency among homeowners which the scheme did not address. Calls for structural incentives such as stamp duty continually fell on deaf ears, and ultimately it was the taxpayer who lost out.”
The EUA, along with many other groups at the forefront of the industry, assures it will continue to engage with government on the development of a new scheme, one that is more inclusive and engages the whole supply chain.
