As the deadline for the introduction of the Green Deal gets ever closer, SME’s are becoming increasingly vocal with their worries about the scheme. A lot are of the opinion that they are going to be pushed out of the market by the new mega-companies now joining the double glazing industry to try and cash in on whatever boost there may be. But last week there was a ramping up of pressure on the organisations responsible for making sure everyone gets a fair shot at the deal.
Crystal Home Improvements have taken it upon themselves to contact various companies within the industry with the aim to form a legal action group to try to mount a legal challenge to the scheme. In a copy of the letter I received today, they say their aim is to: “stop the legislation until we can be 100% sure it will not have any negative impact on our industry”. Here is the text of the letter in full:
We are all being advised that we can become Green Deal installers.
This of course us simply ridiculous as it would mean we would lose our customers becoming instead subservient to national players that will take all the profits from Green Deal work and fees, not to mention the obvious cash flow issues the SME’s would face. We are concerned that Green Deal will distort our natural markets creating and anti-competitive sales market from which SME’s are excluded. Act now as you may soon be excluded from your natural sales market.
The Ministers at DECC refuse to address the concerns of SME’s and simply push us aside refusing to answer our concerns, worse falsely stating they already have.
Crystal have retained the services of Prospect Law LLP, this is the firm of lawyers that recently won the FIT’s case against the DECC.
We are asking that you join us and that we form a group that seeks to mount a legal challenge to the Green Deal, stopping this legislation until we can be 100% sure it will not have any negative impact on our industry, our sales and jobs.
They raise the point in the letter about the worries of SME’s not being met. I too have raised the same point. But I have also said that this scheme needs to work as there has been too much effort and publicity in getting the Green Deal to this point. I don’t think trying to form a legal action group to halt it’s progress is going to be the most productive way to solve the issues of SME’s. If it were to succeed then it could put the whole thing back by months, maybe even a year. However, I don’t think it will. I don’t think that most people have the appetite to sign up for such a group. Yes they will have their concerns, but will probably rely on the biggest groups like the GGF who lobby the Government to do their work.
My advice? Start working with those involved with industry rather than working against it.
Luckily I ,m surveying for a big firm so I m not concerned with the green deal. The government wont listen, the recently won FIT case umm i seem to notice its still dropping by over 20% and it will probably bring the industry to an abrupt halt , we are already seeing a marked drop off in solar sales and many lay offs in the industry I think the percived effect it will have on SME is imaginary or at least over hyped pretty much like computer armageddon at the start of the new millenium. The biggest winners from… Read more »
The government has a keen interest in ensuring that SME’s benefit from the Green Deal, particularly after the FiT fiasco. The issue us that they have not clearly articulated how they intend to achieve this – either because the message is not clear, or because they have yet to work out how to achieve their goal. I hope it is the former, however I sympathise with Crystal Home Improvements, as I suspect that it is a mixture of both. The best way to address this is through SME’s themselves – this is why we are working hard to provide solutions… Read more »
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