Greg Barker comes out Fighting

Greg comes out fighting

Greg Barker has made a statement defending the Green Deal and busting some myths in the process. On the DECC blog Mr Baker out lined some myths that have arisen over the past few months, here is the core of his statement:

1, People won’t save money

People can expect to save money.

There will be two assessments to help consumers see for themselves how much they stand to save. The first assessment will take account of the average energy use of the home, and the second will look at how the occupants use the home so they can enter the Green Deal knowing how best to maximise what they will save.

The Green Deal charge will be fixed from the start too and is designed to ensure money is saved based on existing energy prices. So if energy prices rise, which seems likely, savings will substantially increase.

2, The method used to calculate the savings is inaccurate

This isn’t true. The Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP), which is what we use to calculate how much people will save, is based on a survey of thousands of homes and is being constantly updated to take account of the latest research and experience of energy saving measures.

3, A number of surveys and pilots have shown that people don’t save

Research highlighted recently in the media was based on a handful of homes and included a wide range of home improvements beyond what was necessary to reduce their bills. Further, the trials were not done to Green Deal standards as they included a number of measures that won’t be fully funded under the Green Deal like solar heating which will be subsidised under a different scheme. Therefore they were not testing the Green Deal.

Clearly Government can’t guarantee people will save money if they then change the way they use energy, for example by heating their home for longer each day. But they should still save money compared to what it would have cost to power their home in that way without a Green Deal.

4, People will have to pay for improvement work if they want to build a conservatory

This is simply not true. Standard sized conservatories are not included in the plans that the Communities Department has been consulting on.

5, People will be forced to take out a Green Deal

This is absolutely not true. The Green Deal is simply one option for funding energy efficiency measures which people may wish to consider, but no one will be compelled to take out a Green Deal Plan. Further, Green Deal is not personal debt nor standard credit scored as the finance will be attached to the electricity bill of the property.

Mr Baker’s statement also said that the Green Deal is going ahead and will be launched as expected in October.

The area that wasn’t touched upon was how the Government is going to tackle the worst performing properties which are in the Privately Rented Sector (PRS).  The current plan is to force all properties to reach a band E (EPC) by 2018 or they cannot be rented.  Many have speculated that this target is too little and too far in the future to have any real affect.  Dave Timms makes an excellent case for what the future might hold under the current structure.

If the Green Deal can be used as a catalyst for both saving energy, cutting carbon and producing jobs it seems it might need some more tweaking along the way.  It’s refreshing to see some positive steps by the Minister of State for Climate Change Gregory Barker.

If you have a view on the Green Deal then please share it below in the comments box.

 

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