This week saw the introduction of yet another incentive to try and attract homeowners to the Green Deal. Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey announced that as of June this year, people in England and Wales would be eligible to claim up to £7,600 from the new Grean Deal Home Improvement Fund. This is designed to limit the cost of having any works done.
Climate Change Minister, Greg Barker, said: “The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund is another way the government is making it simpler and cheaper for people to stay warm and improve their homes.
“I want households across the country to benefit from more energy efficient homes and reduced bills through the Green Deal, and that is what the new home incentive fund will do.”
One Last Attempt
This is probably the last ditch attempt at making this quite frankly pointless government flagship scheme work. They are using the rather blunt method of giving people even more money in the hope that it suddenly sparks an interest. Unfortunately, the time in which this scheme could have been worth something has now well and truly passed. Poor planning, no funding for public advertisement and launched in one of the worst recession in the history of the UK economy, the Green Deal was never going to work.
Up to press, you can count the number of window installations done via the Green Deal one one hand. Now that truly is pathetic number, given the hard work bodies like the GGF did to get windows included within Green Deal in the first place. However I do believe that there is a probably political motive behind this last ditch attempt to jump start life into the scheme.
As we all know the European Elections are just days away (22nd May) and the main three political parties stand to be dealt a hell of a blow by the smaller, more independent parties, especially UKIP. The main parties will be using these elections as a tester, looking forward to how next year’s general election is going to go. They know it’s not going to be pretty. In all likelihood there probably won’t be a Lib Dem/Conservative coalition next year. This means that whatever government is formed next, they are going to be having a clear out of all the expensive and failed schemes. Green Deal is likely to be one of them. This may be a last attempt to save a Liberal Democrat policy from being shelved.
There has been simply no advantage from Green Deal other than to those running large council contracts doing home renovations. The normal residential market is practically untouched. The Government says it could take 20 years for the scheme to really bed in a become successful. But is a time period of that long workable in a modern age where everything happens so quickly? No.
The Government has also tried to claim that even if new windows and doors don’t see a benefit from Green Deal, at least the awareness of what new windows and doors can do will be increased. Well no, that hasn’t happened either. I’ve not dealt with a single customer that has come and seen me and said “I saw the Green Deal advertised the other week and I’ve come in to buy new windows and doors”.
Remember those Home Information Packs (HIPs) a few years ago? They got scrapped pretty quickly. So will this.
Full Green Deal Coverage
June 2013
Less Than 200 Homes Sign Up To Green Deal
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May 2013
Green Deal Devastates Cavity Wall Insulation Industry
Want to know how well the Green Deal is doing for the home improvement industry? Well @PhilSirr pointed me to an article on www.building.co.uk that revealed the latest figures from the cavity wall insulation industry. [...]
Could There Be Some Green Deal Progress?
It's been quite a while since I have been able to say anything positive about the Green Deal, however, the latest figures released by the DECC seem to suggest that the pace of Assessments being [...]
March 2013
Poor Start Confirms Green Deal Failure
It has been announced that of the £125m available in cash back schemes to help tempt homeowners into taking on Green Deal work, a measly £205,000 has been claimed since January 28th across the whole [...]
Where’s The Green Deal?
Just thought I'd give you all an update on the latest goings on with Green Deal. Erm, not much to report. We're no well into March and we've not heard a peep from the Green [...]
January 2013
Government Launches Green Deal Today
After months and months of debate, discussion and pretty much arguing, the Government has finally gone to the public to launch their new flagship Green Deal scheme. As well know already, the scheme aims to [...]
